Beaver County Emergency Services using new software to help find missing people. Here’s how it works

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — At first glance, a digital map on the wall of the Beaver County Emergency Services Center is hard to read.

“This to you looks like a bunch of lines on a screen which it is, but each one of those is a team of searchers,” said Eric Brewer, Beaver County’s Emergency Services Director.

It’s more than a dozen search areas spread throughout a portion of Beaver County in a real search for a suicidal man.

“This probably wasn’t even a mile it looks like a lot but not even a mile from where he left his car,” Brewer said.

It’s a new software Beaver County has implemented with grant funding in the last year that allows first responders and command centers to see the area that’s already been covered. It’s not just utiltized for search and rescue.

“If we are looking for a weapon from a crime. We can pinpoint they found the gun, they found the knife and this can be used in court to say this is where it’s at, this is what happened,” Brewer said.

It’s a simple QR code that anyone aiding in the search scans and now their phone is highlighted on the map with a copyright at their fingertips on their phone. Using cell phone signals, every movement is tracked and monitored.

“We aren’t just putting people out there not knowing where they are now, we can see where they are. It allows them to see ahead of time the slope or contour of the area they are searching if there is hills or valleys so it’s safety and accountability,” Brewer said.

Now Butler County is adding it too with commissioners approving the cost in just the last week.

“We’ve had two this year in the county alone which were large searches that took a lot of resources so if we can minimize that, then that’s what our goal is,” said Butler County’s Emergency Services Director Steve Bicehouse.

With these counties’ aging populations and varying terrain, they know it’s a tool that will be put to use.

“It’s a collaborative approach, we are using search teams. Fire departments, law enforcement, aviation, drones and helicopters to use also,” Brewer said.

Right now Butler County is in the onboarding process with the hope to have the new software go live in the next 60 to 90 days.

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