On Monday, Jan. 23, the SILVER pilot project (Information System for Locating Lost and Wanted Vulnerable Persons) went into effect in three RCMs of the province, namely the RCM of Joliette, the RCM of La Vallée-de-l'Or and the RCM of Drummond.

The pilot project will be in effect for a period of one year and aims to find missing people with a major neurocognitive disorder, such as Alzheimer's disease, more quickly.

These alerts, when they meet certain trigger criteria determined by the police, are also aimed at seniors aged 60 and over who show symptoms of a neurocognitive disorder, without necessarily having been diagnosed.

The pilot project was initially supposed to be launched last September, but a major event delayed its implementation, said Catherine Bernard, spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec.

"We are referring to the event of Sept. 2, when an intrusive alert that was initially supposed to be sent within a 50-kilometre radius of Saint-Elzéar, in the Gaspé Peninsula, was finally broadcast province-wide," she said. "This alert concerned the presence of an armed and dangerous man wanted by the SQ, and it was decided to postpone the deployment of the pilot project by a few weeks."

As part of this pilot project, bilingual intrusive alert notifications will be sent by the SQ to all cellular devices located in the specific geographical area where the person is reported missing.

More detailed information about the individual will also be available on the Sûreté du Québec's social media platforms.

According to data provided by the Sûreté du Québec and the Public Security Ministry, 27 intrusive alerts have been issued since 2015 in the province.

Of these, eight were issued in localized areas, including five AMBER Alerts, one Dangerous Animal Alert, one Dam Overflow Alert and one Test Alert in Montreal.

In addition, 19 alerts were issued across Quebec: ten of these were biennial tests. Three alerts were health curfew alerts and seven alerts were AMBER alerts, i.e. related to a missing child.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 23, 2023.