Maryland Purple Alert becomes law on Thursday

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is expected to sign hundreds of bills into law on Thursday. Among them is a bill to create a Purple Alert notification system in the state.

Under the law, which takes effect Oct. 1, authorities can issue an alert if a person with an intellectual developmental disability or brain injury goes missing. It fills the gap created when a person is too young to qualify for a Silver Alert and too old to qualify for an Amber Alert.

A Maryland family has been pushing for the new warning for months.

Last year, 31-year-old Rashawn Williams was missing for almost a week before he was finally found safely. However, his parents were frustrated as no alert was raised to inform the public of his disappearance.

Williams has severe Down syndrome and is nonverbal. Due to certain criteria, he was not considered for nationwide tenders at that time.

His family said the whole experience was a nightmare and they want to make sure no other family has to go through what they did. That’s why they testified at a Senate hearing in February about what happened and how Williams’ case fell through the cracks when it came to the alert system.

“It was a terrible situation he found himself in,” said Williams’ father, Jimmy Hall. “This Purple Alert program benefits the next family so they don’t have to go through it.”

Currently, Florida is the only state that has implemented the Purple Alert system. Mississippi is currently working on legislation to implement it.

RELATED: ‘It’s about future families’ | The family of a missing man with Down syndrome testifies for the Maryland Purple Alert Program

RELATED: New Maryland legislation would close age gap in statewide missing persons alert system

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