The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded $150,000 in grant funding to the Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) for the FY24 Kevin and Avonte Program: Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities. The Newton County Sheriff’s Office is one of 15 agencies that received the grant for federal fiscal year 2024.

The goal of the Kevin and Avonte Program is to reduce the number of deaths and injuries of individuals with forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, or developmental disabilities, such as autism, who, due to their condition, wander from safe environments. The program provides funding to law enforcement and other public safety agencies to implement location tracking technologies to help find missing individuals.

“This is the first year we have applied for and been awarded the Kevin and Avonte Program grant,” said Sheriff Ezell Brown. “We are committed to putting it to good use. Funding like this allows agencies to implement new and improved processes that set a standard for others, ultimately making an impact in our communities.”

The NCSO will use the BJA grant to purchase two scent discriminate tracking K-9s and implement the Bringing the Lost Home holistic system for preventing or reducing incidents of vulnerable people wandering from safe environments. Scent-discriminate K-9 trailing techniques have proven more effective than ground disturbance trailing techniques in locating individuals quickly and safely. The Office of the Sheriff plans to partner with Scent Evidence K9 LLC to purchase the fully trained K-9s. Additionally, Scent Evidence K9 LLC will provide scent preservation kits and a scent vacuum, and the assigned K-9 deputies will receive annual training.