MANCHESTER, Conn. — Similar to the nationwide Amber Alert for abducted children, Connecticut is launching a specialized alert system through 911 for missing adults 18 and older with intellectual and developmental disabilities, also known as the Purple Alert, legislators announced this week.

Connecticut is the fifth state to launch the alert system after nearly two years in development, said state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, one of the champions of the alert. Officials said there have been around 12 reports since the Purple Alert system was launched two weeks ago.

“It could also be issued for someone who has other cognitive disabilities like Alzheimer’s,” she said at the press conference launching the alert. “We’re making sure that the public really understands that when they hear ‘Purple Alert,’ who they are looking for and who we are hoping that they help our wonderful law enforcement to bring home.”

Connecticut had two major alert networks previously in place for missing individuals, the Amber Alert for abducted children and the Silver Alert for missing adults 18 to 64 with mental disabilities and people over 65 years old.

Amber Alerts are issued relatively sparingly, but around 2,500 Silver Alerts are sent out a year, equating to about seven reports a day, said Mark Davidson, a lieutenant colonel with the state police and the commanding officer of the Office of Strategic and Administrative Services.

Of the Silver Alerts, several cases involve individuals with intellectual disabilities. However, Davidson said that the broad description of Silver Alert makes it difficult for first responders to respond and find a missing person in a sensitive and timely manner.

“A 17-year-old, able-bodied, able-minded person is not as vulnerable as somebody with dementia or Alzheimer’s or autism,” Davidson said at the press conference. “So the Purple Alert really carves out the (intellectual and developmental disabilities) population in order to make the awareness of both the public and the police department heightened in that sense.”

Kavros DeGraw said she doesn’t typically look to Florida for legislation inspiration, but was impressed by its comprehensive safety alert network that included the Purple Alert and a Blue Alert for missing police officers.

She wanted to replicate the Purple Alert system in Connecticut after connecting with a constituent whose 19-year-old daughter with intellectual and developmental disabilities had gone missing after engaging with men online. Local police departments were unwilling to put out a Silver Alert since she was an adult, impacting how quickly they found her. Kavros DeGraw explained that it’s critical for people to be found within the first 24 to 48 hours for the best possible outcome.

Since 2023, officials say the alert system has been in development with the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to ensure that the reporting system is user-friendly and easy to understand for dispatchers, first responders and the public.

The Purple Alert works similarly to the other established alerts in Connecticut. So, when a resident calls 911 to report a missing person with intellectual disabilities, Davidson said the information collected by the dispatchers is sent to the same team that makes posters and publishes the Amber and Silver ones with additional information on the missing person and potential ways to find them.

Kavros DeGraw said that first responders are now equipped with specialty bags containing sensory-friendly items like heavy blankets and headphones to help them better interact with the missing person on the scene.

“For people with IDD or with autism, sometimes they need to be approached a little bit differently than someone else, and so we want to make sure that the officers are trained in a way that they understand,” she said.

Purple Alerts will also be used in tandem with the Bring Me (Back) Home registry launched in 2023 by state police and the Connecticut Alzheimer’s Association. The registry allows families to submit photos and information about a person with Alzheimer’s or dementia who wanders so law enforcement can act if they go missing. It includes information like where residents used to live or work, or their native language, to inform officers and make it easier to find them.

Davidson said they’ve had around 430 people register their loved ones in the Bring Me (Back) Home program, which he said will be a critical tie for the Purple Alerts. He added that the Bring Me (Back) Home registry is also now a mandatory field that dispatchers and first responders look at when a missing report comes in.

“Ultimately, the goal here is to recover the missing person with the best possible outcome for all involved,” Davidson said. “We don’t want to re-traumatize or traumatize anybody in the course of doing that, and both the Purple Alert and the bringing back home program enable us to have better outcomes.”

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