Missing Shorewood Man, 78, Found, License Plate Readers Praised

SHOREWOOD, IL — A 78-year-old Shorewood man who went missing on Wednesday morning was found safely later that night at a Tinley Park gas station — all thanks to new technology used by Shorewood police detectives.

"It was a good end to a story," Shorewood Police Chief Phil Arnold told Patch on Thursday. "He just got lost and didn't know how to get back."

Arnold said that once the man was found safely, his relatives drove to Tinley Park to bring him back. The Shorewood police force used the Flock Safety license plate reader camera database for Chicago's suburban region to discover the man's car was spotted in Posen around 4 p.m.

Posen police then put the man's vehicle into their Flock "hot list" that can be seen by eight nearby police departments. Arnold said the missing man suffered from early-onset dementia and had both diabetic and cardiac-related health issues. His last known contact with family occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, the resident did not possess a cellular telephone to communicate. Officers gathered all necessary information needed to initiate a 'Silver Alert' for the missing resident," Shorewood police announced.

With the coordinated efforts of law enforcement, the resident and his vehicle were found in the gas station parking lot in Tinley Park around 5:15 p.m. after being reported by the employees.

"Thanks to the quick actions of Shorewood officers and detectives, along with the coordinated effort of outside law enforcement agencies and the technology provided by the Flock Safety LPR Cameras, the 'at risk' senior citizen was reunited with his family in just over one hour from the time of the initial report, 30 miles from his home," Chief Arnold's news release noted.

At the moment, the village of Shorewood has six Flock license plate readers spread across the community. They are along Seil Road, Black Road and River Road, Arnold said.