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|  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DEPUTY MAYORS SKYLER, GIBBS AND COUNCIL AGING COMMITTEE CHAIR LAPPIN ANNOUNCE EXPANSION OF NOTIFY NYC TO INCLUDE TEXT MESSAGE, EMAIL AND PHONE ALERTS FOR MISSING SENIORS AND CHILDREN City Launches Senior Alert System to Help Find Missing Seniors Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda I. Gibbs and Council Aging Committee Chair Jessica Lappin today announced that Notify NYC, the City’s public notification program, will be expanded to include missing person notifications for senior citizens and children. The New York City Police Department will now issue a Senior Alert when a senior citizen who can benefit from public intervention goes missing. These notifications will be sent through the City’s Notify NYC system. In addition, when the AMBER alert system is activated, or when the State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) issues a Missing Child/College Student Alert those alerts will now be sent to Notify NYC subscribers and yellow taxi drivers. At the announcement, held in the Office of Emergency Management’s Emergency Operations Center, Deputy Mayors Skyler and Gibbs and Chair Lappin were joined by Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph F. Bruno, Aging Commissioner Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Carole Post, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky, Police Department Deputy Inspector Kim Royster, Amber Alert Coordinator for New York State and State Police Senior Investigator Gary Kelly, Dick Novik from the State Broadcasters Association, and Jed Levine from the NYC Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. “When a senior or a child goes missing, the City goes to great lengths to find them – and now New Yorkers who subscribe to Notify NYC can help,” said Deputy Mayor Skyler. “We have seen time and again that the public can be our greatest resource, we will continue to find ways to engage them.” “One of our City’s greatest assets is our seniors, and today we are engaging communities in each borough to help with protecting them,” said Deputy Mayor Gibbs. “As the population of seniors increases, we are committed to making New York a city that is age-friendly and supports all its citizens.” Senior Alerts The New York City Senior Alert program will be activated by the Police Department when a senior, age 65 or older, is reported missing, and the NYPD believes public assistance is required to locate the missing senior. The public will be asked to call in any tips to Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. Senior Alerts will be sent to Notify NYC subscribers via email, text, Twitter, and RSS in the borough of the missing person, in addition to the media. In 2009, Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and the New York Academy of Medicine announced a series of 59 initiatives to encourage safe, active, and healthy living for seniors, including a missing senior alert program. Making it easier to locate vulnerable, missing seniors is critical in light of the growing prevalence of older adults who are affected by cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that in the next 20 years the number of Americans age 65 and older who have Alzheimer’s disease will increase by more than 50 percent. In New York State alone, an estimated 320,000 seniors currently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. “One of the most frequent reasons for special police mobilizations is to quickly find missing children or elderly,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. “Now, in addition to descriptions being aired over police radios and additional police personnel assigned to look for the missing, the extra eyes and ears of the Notify NYC subscribers will be there to assist.” “Notify NYC has proven to be an invaluable tool in helping us keep tens of thousands of New Yorkers informed about emergencies, school closings, and special events, and best of all it’s free to subscribers,” said OEM Commissioner Joseph F. Bruno. “We are committed to continually improving the information available through Notify NYC, and adding senior and children alerts to our roster helps to keep our communities better informed and more engaged. But it’s up to New Yorkers to sign up.” “As a key initiative in Mayor Bloomberg’s Age-Friendly NYC report, Senior Alert is an additional safety measure for seniors who live alone, who suffer from Alzheimer’s, dementia or other cognitive impairments and may go missing,” said Aging Commissioner Barrios-Paoli. “This initiative will also provide caregivers with a greater sense of security that their missing loved ones will be found that much quicker. We are proud to be part of this collaboration with Speaker Quinn, the City Council and other City agencies so that missing older adults can be located and returned to safety as quickly as possible.” To support today’s announcement, the Administration will work with the City Council to legislate a revised alerting system for seniors called Silver Alerts. Modeled after Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts will be activated for the highest priority subset of Senior Alerts and involve notification to a wider group of outlets, including hospitals, taxis and other media outlets. The Silver Alert program will be the first to be implemented at a city level in New York State. “Missing senior notifications are going to make our city safer for the elderly,” said Council Member Lappin. “For a senior citizen, especially one suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's disease, our city can be a confusing and dangerous place. By using the Notify NYC technology, we can put New York’s 16 million eyes to use finding and helping those seniors get home safely. Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to instituting Silver Alerts in New York City. I look forward to working with the Mayor’s office and my colleagues in the City Council to turn this valuable program into law.” “The greater access we have to information, the more effective we can be when it comes to locating a missing senior or child,” said Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., Chair of the Council's Public Safety Committee. “Our technology has rapidly advanced since the days when we relied on milk cartons. This innovate program allows us to fully tap into our resources.” AMBER Alerts The America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert Program is activated by the New York State Police when an investigating police agency confirms that a child under the age of 18 has been abducted and the child is believed to be in danger of serious bodily harm or death, either due to the actions of another or due to a proven mental or physical condition. AMBER Alerts within New York City will now be sent to Notify NYC subscribers citywide via email, text, telephone, Twitter, and RSS. Alerts will also be sent over the dispatch system to New York City taxi cab drivers. Missing Child/College Student Alerts The State’s Missing Child/College Student Alert program is activated by the State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ Missing and Exploited Children Clearinghouse when a child or college student of any age is reported missing and deemed to be endangered, but known circumstances do not meet AMBER activation criteria. Missing Child/College Student Alerts within New York City will now be sent to Notify NYC subscribers citywide via email, text, telephone, Twitter, and RSS. Alerts will also be sent over the dispatch system to New York City taxi cab drivers. Alerts sent through Notify NYC are also posted at www.nyc.gov and distributed to call takers at 311 and 911 to ensure the information that the City provides is accurate, timely and consistent. “For all its uses in making our lives more fun and convenient, technology is at its best when leveraged to make the very difficult – locating a lost loved one in a city of millions – possible,” said DoITT Commissioner Carole Post. “In sharing critical information for and about missing New Yorkers with a community of active participants, today’s enhancements to Notify NYC are indispensible additions to the City’s emergency communications tools.” “New York’s taxi drivers have always been the city’s eyes and ears, and this effort is a chance for them to put their skills to potentially lifesaving use,” said Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky. “It’s our understanding that this will be the first use of taxicabs in the country to help distribute AMBER Alerts, and so if this new taxi technology helps to save even a single life, every bit of effort that has gone into its design and implementation will have been fully justified.” Notify NYC is the product of a broad effort to enhance the City's emergency public communication systems, an effort that is overseen by Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler. The citywide Notify NYC was launched in May 2009, allowing residents in all five boroughs to register multiple email addresses, text message accounts, and phone numbers to receive Notify NYC advisories about events in up to five zip codes. In January, Notify NYC was expanded to include information on delays, closings, and early dismissals at City schools. To date, more than 45,500 people have enrolled in the program, including more than 22,000 parents and guardians who have signed up to receive school-related notifications. Notify NYC is a voluntary program. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other personal information collected during the registration process will never be used for purposes other than sending Notify NYC messages and will remain confidential. For more information about Notify NYC or to register, visit www.nyc.gov. People who do not have regular access to email or text messaging can also register exclusively for pre-recorded voice alerts to their phones by calling 311 and using the automated phone registration system. Notify NYC is jointly managed by the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and the Office of Emergency Management. Contact:
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