BALTIMORE — When police suspect a child has been abducted, they issue an AMBER Alert.
But the criteria for a missing older adult is very different in Maryland.
Criteria for Silver Alerts vary state-by-state, and in Maryland, it's the State Police that set the criteria.
If a local agency wants to issue a Silver Alert, it must be for an adult over 60 years old, who's been diagnosed with a cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's or Dementia.
Similar to an AMBER alert, police need to believe that the person is in some danger of bodily harm and the agency needs to have enough descriptive information for the alert to be sent out.
However, unlike an AMBER alert, the missing person must be traveling in a car at the time of their disappearance.
