RI General Assembly approves bill to help find missing adults with disabilities, now headed to governor

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Rhode Island General Assembly approved legislation designed to help find missing adults with disabilities on Tuesday.

The bill, called “PURPLE Alert,” would create an alert system to help find a missing adults with a physical or neurological disability “serious enough to warrant concern for their immediate safety and well-being,” according to a spokesperson for the RI General Assembly.

In March, a 45-year-old nonverbal, autistic woman went missing in Cranston. She was found inside a parked vehicle after multiple days of searching.

“Our recent experience in Cranston showed clearly that we need an alert program that is tailored to the specific needs of adults with more serious disabilities in our community who rely on caregivers in their daily lives,” Rhode Island State Senator and Cranston Police Major Todd Patalano said. 

The alert would be similar to Silver and Amber Alerts.

“An alert catches people’s attention and prompts action. It gives urgency to a situation and when the community reacts quicker and takes the missing person alert seriously more people will be found sooner,” Autism Project Executive Director Joanne Quinn said. “It’s also critical to pair the alert with training of public safety personnel on how to engage best with members of the autistic community and other people with disabilities so they may answer the call out and not fear the people working to help them.”

The legislation would also require the Rhode Island Department of Emergency Management Agency to review the policies of the alert every year, and provide trainings to all agencies involved.

The bill is now headed to the governor’s desk.