Police Cpl. Park Jong-sun explains how to use smart tag affixed inside shoes at the Gwangju Dongbu Police Station in the southern city of Gwangju on April 12, 2023. (Yonhap)
GWAGNJU, April 13 (Korea Bizwire) — A police officer’s idea of using smart tag as a way to locate missing elderly dementia patients is paying off.
Smart tags are small electronic devices designed to make it easier to detect the location of a missing object such as keys or luggage, and are sometimes used with pets too.
Police Cpl. Park Jong-sun at the Gwangju Dongbu Police Station in the southern city of Gwangju was investigating a missing person report, and got the idea after seeing the family of the missing person using a smart tag.
The size of smart tag is small enough to be affixed inside shoes. In addition, it can be used for more than six months with a single battery.
Park persuaded the district’s dementia support centers and started distributing smart tags to the guardians of dementia patients starting from the latter half of last year.
As a result, the police succeeded in detecting a missing patient only 20 to 30 minutes after receiving a missing person report, much faster than tracking them through CCTV.
Moreover, the location of missing patients can be checked instantly through the smartphones of their family members, enabling them to find them on their own without having to contact the police.
After recognizing the effect of smart tags in locating missing dementia patients, the police station and district office plan to expand the scope of distribution.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
