Whitfield County Gets 20 Scent Kits for Missing Persons

Whitfield County Emergency Management/911 received 20 Life TrakPak kits to aid searches for missing individuals, particularly those with disabilities or special needs prone to wandering.

Director David Metcalf and Deputy Director Jeff Ownby picked up the donated kits in Alpharetta on April 9. The kits preserve a person's scent for up to 10 years, allowing search teams to use the sample if the individual goes missing.

"In many of these cases, families do not have anything readily available that carries a clean scent," Metcalf said. "This gives search teams something they can use immediately to significantly improve rescue efforts in a time-sensitive situation."

The kits work with the Georgia K9 Search and Recovery team, which conducts searches using trained dogs, drones, water rescue, sonar, and other assets.

Metcalf will distribute the kits free to the public at Miracle League Opening Day on Saturday, April 11, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.