Using information to find the missing

The Return Every Adult and Child Home (REACH) registry is a database maintained by the Nassau County Police Department’s Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence unit at the police academy in Massapequa Park that tracks children and adults with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, Down syndrome, mental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries that renders them unable to communicate when they go missing.
Photographs, biographical information and other information vital to help locate missing people such as likely destinations and idiosyncrasies are part of the database. The registry is an expansion of the Silver Alert System, which puts out information about missing people with cognitive disorders to the media.
The NCPD Foundation provides financial support to this program to purchase the wristbands, lanyards and identification cards distributed to those individuals who are registered in REACH for law enforcement officers to identify them should they go missing, according to Alexandra Migolian, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. “The police run the program,” she said. “We have provided $10,000 to go towards equipment, the bracelets, lanyards and an identification card machine.”
It was through a coworker where Julie Eden, the Medicaid service coordinator supervisor for Life House, a Cedarhurst-based nonprofit, invited the NCPD and their service to conduct the registry at her facility. “I called them, and they came,” she said. “They were wonderful. Our office and the Harvey Weisenberg Resource Center collaborated to add people to the registry. It was fabulous.” The resource center is named for the retired assemblyman from Long Beach. The center is housed inside Life House’s offices.
Eden explained how information for the database was collected. “They came and took a picture of the person,” she said. “They collected information and created identification cards for each person. They did this on a laptop, which is really great, because now they have the information stored in the database, and if someone that is registered goes missing, they can actually go out to that lost elderly person or child with disabilities and find them.”
County Executive Edward Mangano had been considering a program for several years before collaborating with agencies to create the database system. “My goal when unveiling this program in 2010 was to have every adult and child with a cognitive disorder in Nassau County registered with the REACH Program,” he said in a press release last year. “By doing so we ensure that our law enforcement officers are equipped with the intelligence needed to assist in returning a loved one home safely should they go missing.”
Overall, the process for registration takes about 10 minutes and is free of charge to participants. This is done at the NCPD’s Asset Forfeiture unit Monday through Friday every week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To schedule a time for registration, or for more information, call (516) 573-5775. “If we can save one life through this program, that’s great,” Eden said.