- Non-verbal autistic child was found wandering alone
- Officer and trained dog managed to use a reverse scent trail to find child’s home
- Child was reunited with his family who were unaware he had gone out alone
A lost child in North Carolina was reunited with his family recently after a police dog used a reverse scent trail to find his home.
Difficult problem
The incident started when someone called 911 to alert authorities to a child walking alone on the Waxhaw Indian Trail Road. Officers from Union County Sheriff’s Office in Monroe, North Carolina, responded and quickly located the child, but they couldn’t ascertain where they lived as they were non-verbal and autistic, according to a post on Facebook by the Sheriff’s Office.
But the problem was solved when Deputy Belk decided to attempt a reverse scent track. While police sniffer dogs are often used to seek out the scent of a missing person, in this case, the police dog, a bloodhound named Remi, was given a scent to try and find the child’s home.
Reverse scent trail
Deputy Belk used a piece of sterile gauze to collect a scent from the child’s forearms and back of neck, which was given to Remi, who then managed to retrace his steps for about half a mile back to their home.
The child was reunited with his parents. It emerged that the parents had not been aware the child had been wandering alone, as he had secretly left his home without alerting his parents. The family were also given tips on how to ensure that this sort of incident doesn’t reoccur.
The Good News Network has reported that the reverse tracking technique would now be added to the training curriculum for Monroe County officers who work with police dogs.
