Crime & Safety

Pa. State Police Using New Missing Person Alert System

The new system will be separate from the Amber Alert system.

Pennsylvania State Police are using a new advisory system to alert the public and help find missing persons such as elderly patients or lost children, according to a press release from the agency.

The Missing Endangered Person Advisory System (MEPAS) will be used to get the word out to law enforcement agencies and to the public via broadcasters.

MEPAS is separate from the Amber Alert System, which notifies the public about abducted children who are considered to be in imminent danger.

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A missing endangered person alert will be issued if:

  • The circumstances of the incident do not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert;
  • The individual is missing under unexplained, involuntary or suspicious circumstances;
  • The person is thought to be in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, environment or weather conditions, or is known to be in the company of a potentially dangerous person;
  • The requesting police agency is conducting an active investigation and has entered the missing person into the National Crime Information Center database, and enough information is available to help the public identify the person.

A missing person alert typically will provide a description of the missing person and their clothing, and information on where they were last seen.

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For example, a MEPA may be requested if a dementia patient “leaves a residential facility in poor weather conditions without the knowledge of the staff or a young child walks away from his mother in an area of heavy traffic,” according to state police.


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