Milford Officers Track, Locate Missing Teen With SafetyNet Device

Milford Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin commended officers and response crews on Monday for their vigilance in locating a missing teen with special needs through the use of a SafetyNet tracking device on Sunday. 

Around 6:17 p.m. on Sunday, police were notified that a 17-year-old with special needs had wandered away from his uncle while near the Brookside Elementary School on Congress Street, police said.

Because the teen was wearing a SafetyNet transmitter device, which is used by public safety agencies to help find missing individuals who may have cognitive impairments, Milford Sgt. Michael Jones and Officer Robbie Tusino responded to the Milford Police Department to retrieve a tracker and obtained the SafetyNet code from LoJack, while officers Pinto and Francesconi searched the area from where police received calls indicating sightings of the youth. 

Jones and Tusino later tracked the teen along Sumner Street, where he was reportedly hiding behind a truck at the rear loading dock of a nearby business. The teen, police said, travelled on foot through a heavily-wooded area for about a mile from the Bookside School. 

The teen appeared to be scared and confused when officers located him, and he had sustained minor abrasions on his hands and knees. Milford Fire Rescue Community Ambulance crews subsequently responded and transported him to the Milford Regional Medical Center for evaluation. He was later reunited with his family, police said.