Dear [Your Elected Official],

Wandering or elopement for people living with Alzheimer’s, autism, and dementia is a serious safety issue in California. Law enforcement is a significant part of local responses when a person wanders, but most counties do not have coordinated preventive and responsive programs for wandering of people with cognitive impairment. AB 2541 will develop guidelines for police response when individuals with Alzheimer’s, autism, and dementia wander from home.

Wandering or elopement is a serious safety issue for some of our most vulnerable Californians. An estimated 690,000 people are living with Alzheimer’s disease in California. Over sixty percent of those living with Alzheimer’s will wander at some point.

In 2020, the Department of Developmental Services reported nearly 133,000 cases of autism in California, a number which is expected to continue to increase. An estimated 49 percent of children with autism will engage in wandering behavior.

Consequences for wandering of people with Alzheimer’s or children with autism can have serious and often deadly consequences. According to the National Autism Association, in 2011 accidental drowning accounted for 91 percent of the total U.S. deaths reported of children with autism ages 14 and younger, after wandering or elopement. For people with Alzheimer’s disease, locating a missing person quickly is imperative because an estimated 50 percent of those not found within 24 hours will suffer serious injury or death. 

AB 2541 directs the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to develop guidelines for police response when individuals with a cognitive impairment wander from home. These protocols will include community awareness campaigns for prevention and water safety, identifying wandering prevention devices, and developing proactive registries and community alert systems, and improve coordination and communication between law agencies and other health and first responders. These guidelines will help local law enforcement address and prepare for those inevitable incidents of wandering.

Please support AB 2541 to support the thousands of individuals who are at risk of wandering.