The new K9 at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is a year-old bloodhound named Pepper. | ElderSource
Published on May 7, 2025 at 4:03 pm
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The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and ElderSource have unveiled another way to help protect adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s who wander away from home.
The Pepper Project expands on a program that literally preserves the scent of someone in danger of wandering away. The scent is then used by a police bloodhound to help track them down.
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Scent preservation kits are already used to help K9 units locate missing people, but the ElderSource expansion takes the effort further, said Chief Jamie Eason.
“Most people in this room or even in this city have people in their family that have dementia or Alzheimer’s,” Eason said. “There’s nothing scarier that they are missing and they know that they can’t find their way home. So it’s such a great partnership to have these scent jars — it’s just another tool we have on our belt for these dogs to find your loved one.”
Six out of 10 people with dementia will wander away from home at least once, an issue some parents also face with children who have autism, ElderSource officials say.
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The name of the project comes from the Sheriff’s Office’s new K9, a year-old bloodhound named Pepper trained to find missing persons. ElderSource, Northeast Florida’s aging and disability resource center, funded the purchase of the dog and 700 scent preservation kits through a Baptist Health grant.
“We couldn’t do it without them — dogs are expensive; training is expensive,” said Missing Persons Unit Sgt. Michael Monts. “With their help, we can now find that most vulnerable.”
Pepper joins Patriot, the Sheriff’s Office’s first bloodhound. The grant that funded Pepper and the 700 added kits expand on a scent jar program already in use.
These assets also expand on the Duval County R.E.V.A.M.P. program — the Registry for Endangered, Vulnerable and Missing Persons database. , started in 2023 by the Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department started the registry in 2023, enabling caregivers to register loved ones who may have cognitive, memory or sensory disabilities.
The registry can give police and firefighters vital information in case someone goes missing. The information is also added to the Missing Endangered Persons Search and Rescue program, or MEPSAR, which uses data and computer analytics to calculate where a missing person might be.
To register for the R.E.V.A.M.P. Duval program, go here. Information on the scent kits can be found in the “Additional Resources” section of that website.
