Silver Alerts are not in Michigan: Could they help?
(CBS DETROIT) - Emergency alerts can be a matter of life and death, but when is it an appropriate time to enact them?
Alerts and the names of them vary by state, but there's a certain alert that one St. Clair County family says could've been the savior for their missing elderly loved one.
"You were smart. You knew what to do," says Taylor Babcock, granddaughter of Karen Adams.
Adams was found dead in Oscoda County, four days after driving off during a visit with family.
After days of searching between family, community members and law enforcement, it left their family wondering if there could've been more done to locate her.
"If we got the Silver Alert out right away, there's a chance she could still be alive," says Kayla Latoszkiewicz, Adams' other granddaughter.
Silver Alerts are similar to Amber Alerts, the biggest difference is that they cater to the elderly. Several states have them, however, Michigan is not one of them. The state has other systems in place aside from Amber Alerts to effort locating a missing individual of any age or circumstance.
"We already have legislation that is similar to a Silver Alert and it's called The Mozelle Senior Alert Act.
Jolene Hardesty, a missing persons coordinator for the Michigan State Police, says with the Mozelle Senior Alert Act and an Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA), all hands get activated to help locate a missing individual.
The Mozelle Senior Alert Act was enacted in 2012. The criterion for activation is similar to an EMA but is catered toward the elderly or vulnerable adults. For example, someone who is at least 60 and is believed to be incapable of returning home without assistance.
"We really don't want to desensitize the public to those emergency alerts that are going off on their phone because unfortunately, individuals can turn them off," Hardesty says. She added those wireless emergency alerts are for presidential alerts, imminent threat alerts (like weather) and Amber Alerts.
"What would you do if it was your grandma or mom missing," Latoszkiewicz.
Latoszkiewicz says she hopes to see more conversation surrounding these notifications and feels they could have made a difference in locating her grandmother.