Full Notification

The Redwood City Police Department has once again successfully located an “at-risk” elderly missing person via their social media outreach efforts and assistance from local law enforcement communication resources. Through the combined assistance of an alert citizen who notified RCPD after seeing a Nixle alert on Facebook about the missing person and the efforts of an Atherton Police Sergeant, officers were able to locate the 74 year-old Redwood City resident unharmed.

The initial report was received on April 23, 2015, at approximately 12:12 pm, when officers responded to a report of a missing person who had walked away from an assisted living facility in the 200 block of Hudson Street. The missing person was a 74 year-old, male resident of the facility who was suffering from medical conditions, which led officers classify him as an “at-risk” missing person. In light of the at-risk status, all available on-duty personnel were brought in to search for the missing person.

As a component of the Department’s response to at-risk missing persons, a Nixle alert was sent via multiple social media platforms. At approximately 1:15 pm, the Police Department received a call from a citizen who read the Nixle alert and saw the subject walking in the area of El Camino and 5th Avenue in Redwood City. Officers focused their search efforts on this area and an Atherton Police Sergeant subsequently located the subject at 1:23 pm on El Camino Real just south of the reported location. The subject was safely returned to his assisted living facility.

Redwood City Police have successfully used their social media programs several times in the past to locate missing persons, identify wanted criminals, disseminate important information to citizens, and reunite victims with their stolen property. On September 23, 2014, Redwood City Police released surveillance video from a robbery at a convince store to identify an unknown suspect via social media. Within a few days of posting the video, detectives were able to identify the suspect with the assistance of several people who saw the posting. On November 22, 2012, Redwood City Police used a Nixle alert to notify the community about a 79 year-old female visitor from Japan, who had gone missing from her family’s home. An alert citizen who saw the Nixle message observed the missing woman and notified police who reunited her with her family. On February 6th, 2015 a 55 year old missing person walked away from a care home during inclement weather. A Nixle message was sent out and once again a quick tip was received that led to the missing person’s rapid recovery. Today’s event was yet another example of how the use of social media was able to bring a successful conclusion to a difficult missing person case.

The Redwood City Police Department would like to thank all the residents who follow us on social media and for providing the crucial information that lead to the successful outcome of these cases. The Redwood City Police Department utilizes a variety of social media platforms to connect with the community including Nixle alerts, which are frequently used to notify residents and commuters of road closures and updates on developing events throughout the City. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Blogger, Vimeo and Video Chat are also used regularly by the Department. Citizens can sign-up for the Department’s social media programs at http://www.redwoodcity.org/police/SocialMedia.html or follow us on our English and Spanish Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/RedwoodCityPD or https://www.facebook.com/PoliciaDeRedwoodCity.