CBS4 RTV4 WHBF Quad Cities, IL / IA News Weather SportsProject Life Saver Works

Project Life Saver Works

Last Friday night Scott County had its first success story with the program. Police were able to track down a young man with autism in less than a half an hour.

Modesto Martinez, a 24-year-old man from Eldridge, likes to wander off late at night and collect cans. The problem is he doesn't always come home until the next morning. After one too many sleepless nights, his mom, Lori decided to enroll Modesto in Project Lifesaver, a tracking system for people with mental disorders.

"If you turn your back he would probably go into the river, I worry about that. I'm trying to be a real good mother." Lori Martinez said.

Last Friday night, Modesto went missing again, but thanks to the program, it only took the Scott County response team 20 minutes to find him.

"This helps to do some of the talking for those persons that are missing and it helps us to speed up the process of finding somebody." Major Mike Brown with the Scott County Sheriff's Department said.

Modesto and others in the program wear a band on their wrist or ankle, which emits a radio signal every second. Major Brown says the signal helps police find someone in just minutes rather than hours or days. Lori Martinez says the program gives her and Modesto more freedom and peace of mind.

"It's less stressful, I don't have to worry about him, things happening to him, him wandering off." Lori said.

Right now, Scott County has two sets of equipment but a third is in the works. Major Brown said his two biggest challenges are getting more equipment and getting the word out to families.

Project Lifesaver is used in 39 states. Since it was created eight years ago, it's helped find 1,300 missing people.