BILL NUMBER: SCR 166INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Galgiani AUGUST 23, 2016 Relative to Silver Alert Community Education Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 166, as introduced, Galgiani. Silver Alert Community Education Month. This measure would proclaim the month of September 2016 as Silver Alert Community Education Month. Fiscal committee: yes. WHEREAS, The Silver Alert was signed into California law in 2012 to help in the recovery of missing persons who are 65 years of age and older; and WHEREAS, The Silver Alert is a quick response system designed to issue and coordinate alerts following the unexplained or suspicious disappearance of an elderly person with the goal of providing immediate information to the public about the missing person, including images or descriptions and the time and location last seen to speed the process to locate the person and return him or her to safety; and WHEREAS, The Silver Alert was recently amended to include those persons who have a developmental or mental disability or cognitive impairment; and WHEREAS, There are more than 250,000 people living with developmental disabilities in California and roughly 1 in 20 adults suffer from a severe mental illness; many of these individuals are at great risk of wandering at some point in their lives; and WHEREAS, There have been efforts to educate and train those in law enforcement who come into contact with these individuals on how to interact and deescalate a situation with the least amount of force, most recently with the passing of SB 29 and SB 11 in 2015; and WHEREAS, There is a growing need to educate people in communities on the Silver Alert and on how it will help in the safe return of their loved ones, and how to interact with the individuals should they come into contact with them; and WHEREAS, If more people in the community were aware of the Silver Alert, it would increase the chances that a missing individual would be safely located; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims the month of September 2016 as Silver Alert Community Education Month, and urges all state departments and agencies and law enforcement agencies to work together to promote greater awareness of the Silver Alert system and to educate communities on how they can help in the safe return of a missing individual; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature also urges all local law enforcement agencies to adopt systems like San Diego's "AlertSanDiego" system, which notifies the public via email and text message when a person with dementia or other cognitive impairment, or with a developmental disability, goes missing in the region; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.