Overview
- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced on June 24–25 that the Florida Spectrum Alert will take effect July 1 to help locate and recover missing children with autism spectrum disorder.
- The system has two tiers — a regular Spectrum Alert and an Enhanced Spectrum Alert — and FDLE published a five-step activation checklist that must be met before an alert is issued.
- Enhanced Spectrum Alerts will trigger wireless emergency alerts to phones in a local radius, which FDLE said would typically cover about five miles where the child was last seen.
- FDLE completed statewide training so officers can recognize signs of autism and follow the new procedures, and the agency says rapid public notices can prompt neighbors to check pools, retention ponds and yards.
- Advocates and FDLE cite high rates of wandering and a heightened drowning risk for children with autism — including a report that they face far greater drowning risk — as the core reason the alert was created and rolled out statewide.