Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue helps find missing persons.
Families may contact them directly, and law enforcement may contact
them directly. They're highly trained in locating all ages, whether
it's Alzheimer's, missing children, or anybody that's missing. Their nonprofit
and they do not charge for their services. Today, we're
going to talk about Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue with
(00:31):
Angel Lonzo and Brett Gordon. Well, Angel, you're back again
with GSAR. We had you last year and you talked
about things that were happening then and now different stuff
is happening with GSAR right now, different types of cases,
different types of situations. Talk about them a little bit
what they have now.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, right now we're looking into helping GMA as well
as we've gotten some new places that have come up
that family members have reached out and has taken us
all the way. As a matter of fact, we went
all the way up to North Carolina to the casinos
up there, and we've been working a lot with Phantom
(01:16):
County Blue Ridge in those areas up there, and hopefully
we'll get some more some more cases sought.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's amazing that people search and rescue
now is twenty four seven, almost twenty four seven. Almost
every day you look and you see on the internet,
you see some mans is messing. It's just remark.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well and that's the thing, and that's one of the
main reasons we are pushing to get more people to
volunteer and get certified with us so they can get
their certifications, then they can come out and help. Since
we are volunteers, you know, it's a lot of people
(02:03):
want to get paid and.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We don't pay.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We don't pay. We're free for law enforcement and families.
So it makes life a little bit harder. But at
the same time, you know, the dedication of the people
that are are in our team is utmost. You know,
they're they're dedicated to making sure that families reunite and
(02:29):
helping in every which way possible.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
We just had uh this week we went in Jefferson
and you said, the truck, the truck out there were
carcaanine truck and we went out there. Those things help out,
help us, get people to know who we are.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, we need to get more out in the community
and try to get more volunteers. I mean, that's the
main thing is having the numbers up there.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
It's true, you have because the more volunteers you have,
then you can reach out and you can do things.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, it's it's pretty much a numbers game. I mean,
you've got fifty people, you might have getting ten or
twenty to come out. Yeah, because you know, obviously everybody's
got families, everybody's got you know, something to do. So,
like angel is saying, it's a volunteer, so you know,
family obviously comes first.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Let's talk about the types of search as you go to.
Alzheimer's is the big one. That's a big one right now, Alzheimer's,
and that's what we get the calls for all the time.
Talk about Alzheimer's because Alzheimer's is staggering. How many people
is affecting right now?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, you know a lot of people don't understand that
your grandfather, grandmother or someone in your immediate family one
day could be okay and then bam, you know, they
have dementia and then they start wandering off and you
(03:50):
are faced with the situation of who do you call right?
What do you do? Do you call law enforcement? Well,
if you do call on are they going to have
the resources to come help? And this is where we
step in because we are the resources not only for
(04:10):
law enforcement, but for those families. And with our group
coming out, we're trained and experienced in these type of
fields and searches and know what we're looking for, know
the questions to ask. You just don't you know. It's
not a thing of well or what were they wearing. No,
(04:32):
you've got to know where they've been, what they used
to do, what medications they're taking, you know, and things
like that where law enforcement they do a good job,
but they forget to ask certain questions. That's true.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's true, and especially with Alzheimer's, they need to call
us right away. I mean right away we get called,
they'll call us down here about four hours, oh gosh,
four hours, four hours. Gotta never we gotta look look,
turn around and look, go back and look look a lot.
You got to call us immediately, right right, because you
always talk about that all the time. You gotta follow
(05:08):
them immediately the time is this sence?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I mean, and I know you've heard me say that
so many times, but that's so critical because that can
make a big difference whether they're in one city or
another city or even another state, right right, So yeah,
that that.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That is very very important.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The the gentleman is missing night night now you know
he started he usually a car and now though we're
able to look them up in a car because of
flock cameras. We were head a guy in Middle Georgia.
We looked him up at flock cameras. Those have really
made a big difference. As before we used to see
a tag number and you go, well, we can't go
(05:45):
search because we're where are people search on the ground.
But now the flock cameras have really change it for us.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
With flock cameras, uh, you know, you run across the
situation where once they passed that camera, it alerts any vehicle,
any law enforcement in the area that they just buy
they just passed that intersection or that street. Also, if
they hit between one flock camera and another, it gives
(06:14):
us an area that you can actually put boots on
the ground and start searching. And that's very very important
because even if they're in a car, the car is
only going to go so far and if they have
a medical emergency, they're gonna stop or pull over. Somewhere
if they don't have an accident. So this is very
(06:37):
important and it's helped law enforcement greatly. But at the
same time, it's helped us to be able to put
boots on the ground and do it quickly. And like
Brett said, you know, calling us out immediately is so
important because waiting long periods of time, the the circle
(07:01):
of the area you're gonna search just gets bigger and
bigger and bigger. And it's highly.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Important because they're always at Alzheimer's. Patient is always moving,
constantly moving. He rarely stops. He's gonna move. He's looking
for something and he's looking, they're looking looking, looking at it.
He's constantly moving, and so you've got to be there
right away so that you can move with it. And
one good thing, you know, we talk about this all
the time, we laugh about it sometimes, is that they
(07:29):
say everybody goes to the woods. We haven't found anybody
who woods. In twenty years of searching for somebody, I
have not found anybody. I said that, not in the woods.
But they're usually the same place as we are every
day walking around like we're looking, you know, shopping center
in right now or here. Winnett County. They're everywhere. They're
they're here, They're not in the woods.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You know that that's a misperception that some law enforcement
agencies have gotten that when someone goes missing, they automatically
go in the woods instead of asking the questions. There's
the final questions that you need to ask about where
they used to go. If they used to work right
(08:13):
down the street, Well, has anybody checked where they used
to work? Has anybody checked the stores they used to
go to? Because more likely you're gonna find them there
a QT or walking down the street than in the woodline. Now,
there were they were massive hunters, and they used to
(08:34):
go hunting all the time. Then I can see you
going in the woods, but the chances of you finding
them there are really slim. Now, I don't say let's
not go in the woods and check, but you got
to find those answers to the questions before you can say, okay,
(08:54):
everybody into the woods. You can't just immediately have that
thought in your head that if they go missing, that's
where you're gonna find them. No, it's not. We haven't
found them. We found them, Like I said in QTS,
nursing homes in parks at a church, you know, at
the McDonald's Little Park. We found them there, Yeah, we did.
(09:16):
So there's different places that you're gonna find them. But
you got to ask the questions.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's always, it seems like always not the weather's not
like today it's beautiful outside. It's always going to be
raining cold every time we go out. It's not beautiful.
It's it's rough weather. We have to bed with that too.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Oh yeah, there's a you know, I'm pretty sure breaking
touching on this even more because the weather is changing
all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
We had the weather oh, I mean we can we've
been out and rain, we've been out, but it's sleeping.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
There any kind of weather it doesn't actually usually stop
us something.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So yeah, yeah we have rain gear and yeah we
are just put it on and go. We have to
go because they're outsearching. Another situation besides the Alzheimer's people,
which and we were very close with Alzheimer's Association. They've
been wonderful to us looking for these people. Besides the
Alzheimer's people are the missing kids. It just breaks our heart.
(10:21):
I know you're in this business because of the missing kids. Yes,
that's you. What about that we have more missing kids now.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, I mean you're having grandkids and everything else.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I mean, it's it hits my heart.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I mean, you know, kids go missing or something, so
that's one reason.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Why I do.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
But I mean, yeah, we end up getting a lot
of missing kids, and a lot of it is actually
not really where they're missing. I mean sometimes it's even
sex trafficking and stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Like that, which I don't know if you want to
hit with that, but I mean Angel knows a lot
about that, and he could probably hit a lot more
on that.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
But you know, that's what's said.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I mean, we don't know if it's actually missing or
what's going on.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So I mean that's why it's so critical again for
us to get out there quickly to find out what's
going on.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, Angel, what about that trafficking part? The trafficking right
now in Georgia? The first Lady has really done a
wonderful job and she has a Grace Commission and they've
done a wonderful job of cracking down on some of
the traffickers. But we have trafficking in Georgia. Mentally, well, you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Know, one of the things that Brett hit that I
really want to express is a lot of agencies need
to get away from this. It's a runaway. Yeah, no,
there are missing and endangered. You're putting the emphasis too
much on the kids when you tag them as a runaway.
(11:43):
A lot of departments, bigger departments, not the small ones,
but the bigger departments has SVU units that they vet.
The cases are coming through, which is great, but at
the same time, you know, you need to look into
these matters because right now Georgia is a hot place
(12:03):
for sex trafficking. There there's a lot of kids that
are going missing because of the Internet. They get on
the Internet and they're they're being taunted, they're being lured
by people in sex trafficking, and when they go missing,
(12:27):
it's the same thing. We need to be upfront with them.
We need to start doing things quickly because the time
that we get called and we get out there, we
can start investigating, having law enforcement and do their job
in investigating if they were on the internet, if they've
(12:47):
been if they were somewhere, who picked them up, did
they meet somebody or did they go really to a
friend's house, Because they are meeting people who who are
not exactly what they're saying on the internet. You know,
you could have a seventy year old man or a
(13:08):
fifty year old man saying, you know, put a picture
of a young teenager and saying, oh, yeah, I go
I've been at your school, or I go to your school.
I'm just you know, two grades above you. And then
they lure these kids in. And once they lure them,
you know, we're finding We found a couple that were
out of one atte and we found them in South
(13:29):
and South Atlanta, some in one was in Noonan So
and they were being in that they were being lured
for sex trafficking. One was actually already in there. So
these are things that we have to push the families.
(13:49):
Don't hesitate if you if you have a daughter or
a son that's on the computer, talk to them. You know,
our childre and are precious and they need to know
how much we care about them, how much we love them,
but how much we need to protect them. Because the
(14:11):
population that's out there right now of people that want
to do harm is growing is and that's and you know,
you can blame a lot of it on the Internet
and social media because it is you've given them a
tool to use against your child. So we need to
(14:32):
combat that and try to do what we can to
help those families get their child back from these people
and put and make sure that law enforcement does what
they need to do to prosecute these people also.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
You know, that's trafficking. That's another that's so critical that
you get to us or to law enforcement right away
because they take them on off, they take them out
of the country and no time, and you need to
get them right away, get somebody.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
And you know, we have a special lady that's part
of our group and she actually sits at home and ken.
She is so great with the computer and social media
that we've given her several cases to look at and
(15:28):
she'll find out things quickly and that has come to
help a lot, especially with one case that we did
out of Gainesville, Georgia with the young the young little
girl that went missing. They found her up in Ohio
(15:49):
is where they found her. So you know, we've got
a lot of information turned that over to GBI and
these things. You know, like I said, we're not we're
not the police, right, but we're here to help. We're
the resource to help the police and help the families
because you can't you know, there's only so much certain
(16:14):
people can do. But the more people that are helping,
the greater chance to solve and bring you know, families
back together.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
It's it's really it's it's sad. You see these people
missing and their families just they don't what to do then,
what to think. There are people that in another group
that are there. Maybe they have mental problems or something
like that. They too are missing, and they're older people
but in their thirties or forties or something, but they
have mental problems and have mental problems and health problems,
(16:46):
really physical health problems too. They're missing too, and we
need to get to them as well. Sometimes they're cargs
somewhere and they go offwhere and they go and the
family can't find them at all. We were one of
those recently.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Well that's why it's so critical for us to turn
around and get there as soon as we can. I mean,
keep in mind again, this is actually a free service,
so we you know, if you can call us out
right away, we can get out there. We'd rather be
called out and be called off and hey, we found him,
and that's that's an awesome thing, that's good news for
all of us. We'd rather go home with good news
(17:19):
than not find him at all.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Let's talk about who you are and who who some
of the people are, and what you do, and who
should call you and when they should call you. All
that too. I'll talk I want to get to. First
of all, let's talk about Maverick. He's a canine. You
have a knine, now we don't.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
We have a.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Seventy pound baby boy. He just not too long ago,
just turned one year. He's gotten a lot of his
training done. We're waiting to finish up his certification and
then we got a lot more training to do with him.
But he is great, I mean very smart. He's a
(18:01):
chocolate lap and he comes out and you can he's
a tracking trailing so he can, you know, get on
the scent and be out there looking for children and adults.
He's very essential. Yeah, he he is. He's a very
(18:24):
good part of our group because dogs can sense and
they they can track a lot better than we can
sometimes and depending on the weather, sometimes the weather helps them.
Sometimes you know, the weather does it, so you have
(18:46):
to be you know, our handler is Carmen Alonso. She's
our handler and she does a great job with him.
She's she's been certified as a canine handler, and uh,
she really trains a lot with the dog and gets
out there and and does a lot. Plus she has
(19:08):
friends of hers that work for other agencies that come
in and help us.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Also, you, I want to talk about your new truck
because you got from Thomasville a Police department the new truck,
so talk about that. It's it's it's now decorated up
with you your logo, but you got from Tamsville Police
and we want to give them credit for it. Thank you.
But it's up a great job.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Ben yea Thomasville Police Department had a great hand in
giving us uh and helping us with the new canine vehicle.
It's an old canine police car, but it's uh in
great shade.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It come came completely backed out and now it's uh.
The logos are on, the lights are on, and UH
can't wait. U. The other day we took it out
for a spind with touch of truck. Yeah, and of
course Maverick got his first ride in it. That's right,
(20:06):
had a great time, got plenty of room in the
back to stretch out, so that it's it's very good.
We can't wait too to put it to more use.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, and we thank the towns of the police department
for for helping us out with that. We really, we
really use it. We're really gonna use that. It's gonna
be really good. And now if someone wants to need you,
first of all, call right away, don't wait two days
or three days, call right away, called a night twenty
four to seven, three sixty five every day. But who
(20:39):
should call you and who one of the numbers that
you'd call, and your website to any any.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Information that you have, well, they can go on the
they can go on the internet and find us under
george Emergency Search and Rescue dot org. We have our
email address which is Carmen at Georgia Emergency Search and
Rescue dot org. They can reach out to us by
calling calling me direct. My number is twenty four to seven,
(21:09):
so it's four seven five, two five eight six ninety
five and that's twenty four to seven for law enforcement
and families. So if you have a loved one missing
or your law enforcement and need secondary help, please reach
out to us. You can also go on Facebook. We're
(21:32):
at GSR Team which is g E s A R
Team all one word and you can see everything that
we're working on have worked on, and you can reach
us through that that page also and get some information
through there and see everything we do because there's a
(21:53):
lot of things that you know, we assist in disasters,
major disaster searches and so forth. So we're out here
for to help the community and every.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Which way, and also law enforcement. It's gonna have to
be involved anyway. You will call law enforcement. You can
help the people law enforce, you call you first, but
you can also help the family can call, but you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Call law enforcement too, right, Yes, law enforcement can call
us direct and we're we'll be quick on the scene.
If family members call, they need to understand that we
don't do anything without notifying law enforcement. We do work
side by side with them to make sure that they
know that we're out there searching and who we're searching for,
(22:41):
because we're we are a side resource so for them
and for counties, and like we said, we do the
whole state of Georgia. So we want to make sure
that anybody that calls us, you know that law enforcement
jurisdiction knows that we're out there.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And Brett I would give out your number because I
mean you you on the call too, So if they
can't reach Angel, they reach you or reach me, but
give your number.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
My phone number is six seven eight two five zero
five six nine zero, and we want.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
To give your number two.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, you get my number out there.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
John's number is four four three oh nine seven three
eight six, so you can actually reach out to any
one of those numbers.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
And what I would do is start with the Angel.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
If you can't get old Angels, try to either John
or myself.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah. Yeah, we'll we will, we'll do, and we'll do
state wide. Well stay right too as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
We are.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
We have to work sometimes, but uh, we'll come out.
We'll come out. And anything else regarding regarding this angel
we want to talk about. I know we want to
tell people to call for Alzheimer's kids, kids that are missing, missing,
adults with mental health problems, or anything like that, but
just call us for anybody really.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yes, uh, well, you know, we want to reach out
to the community and let you know we are nonprofit
so we don't get paid to do this. We do
accept donations on our website that we use for gear
and training purposes. But also I want to express to
(24:19):
people that are out there that might have it in
their heart they would like to be part of a
team where they can come and help others. They can
reach out to us. They need to understand they're not
going to get paid for this, and there might be
out of pocket a little bit of money, but we
will help them to get certified. We will give them training.
(24:42):
They can you know, get background checked because everybody on
our team is background checked. There you've got to be
vetted so because we deal with law enforcement and a
lot of you know, personal stuff. So they can reach
us through through the website and get to us that
one more time. The website is Georgia Emergency Search and
(25:05):
Rescue dot org.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Thanks log guys, I appreciate it, Thank you so much.
Thank you. That's Angel Alonzo and Brett Gordon with Georgia
Emergency Search and Rescue. You can reach out to them
anytime at four seven o five two five eight six
nine five four seven oh five two five eight six
nine five, or you can contact them at Carmen at
Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue dot org. For questions and
(25:28):
comments on today's program, you can email me John Clark
at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to
you next week right here on your local radio station
on Georgia Focus
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue helps find missing persons.
Families may contact them directly, and law enforcement may contact
them directly. They're highly trained in locating all ages, whether
it's Alzheimer's, missing children, or anybody that's missing. Their nonprofit
and they do not charge for their services. Today, we're
going to talk about Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue with
(00:31):
Angel Lonzo and Brett Gordon. Well, Angel, you're back again
with GSAR. We had you last year and you talked
about things that were happening then and now different stuff
is happening with GSAR right now, different types of cases,
different types of situations. Talk about them a little bit
what they have now.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, right now we're looking into helping GMA as well
as we've gotten some new places that have come up
that family members have reached out and has taken us
all the way. As a matter of fact, we went
all the way up to North Carolina to the casinos
up there, and we've been working a lot with Phantom
(01:16):
County Blue Ridge in those areas up there, and hopefully
we'll get some more some more cases sought.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's amazing that people search and rescue
now is twenty four seven, almost twenty four seven. Almost
every day you look and you see on the internet,
you see some mans is messing. It's just remark.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well and that's the thing, and that's one of the
main reasons we are pushing to get more people to
volunteer and get certified with us so they can get
their certifications, then they can come out and help. Since
we are volunteers, you know, it's a lot of people
(02:03):
want to get paid and.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We don't pay.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We don't pay. We're free for law enforcement and families.
So it makes life a little bit harder. But at
the same time, you know, the dedication of the people
that are are in our team is utmost. You know,
they're they're dedicated to making sure that families reunite and
(02:29):
helping in every which way possible.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
We just had uh this week we went in Jefferson
and you said, the truck, the truck out there were
carcaanine truck and we went out there. Those things help out,
help us, get people to know who we are.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, we need to get more out in the community
and try to get more volunteers. I mean, that's the
main thing is having the numbers up there.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
It's true, you have because the more volunteers you have,
then you can reach out and you can do things.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, it's it's pretty much a numbers game. I mean,
you've got fifty people, you might have getting ten or
twenty to come out. Yeah, because you know, obviously everybody's
got families, everybody's got you know, something to do. So,
like angel is saying, it's a volunteer, so you know,
family obviously comes first.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Let's talk about the types of search as you go to.
Alzheimer's is the big one. That's a big one right now, Alzheimer's,
and that's what we get the calls for all the time.
Talk about Alzheimer's because Alzheimer's is staggering. How many people
is affecting right now?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, you know a lot of people don't understand that
your grandfather, grandmother or someone in your immediate family one
day could be okay and then bam, you know, they
have dementia and then they start wandering off and you
(03:50):
are faced with the situation of who do you call right?
What do you do? Do you call law enforcement? Well,
if you do call on are they going to have
the resources to come help? And this is where we
step in because we are the resources not only for
(04:10):
law enforcement, but for those families. And with our group
coming out, we're trained and experienced in these type of
fields and searches and know what we're looking for, know
the questions to ask. You just don't you know. It's
not a thing of well or what were they wearing. No,
(04:32):
you've got to know where they've been, what they used
to do, what medications they're taking, you know, and things
like that where law enforcement they do a good job,
but they forget to ask certain questions. That's true.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's true, and especially with Alzheimer's, they need to call
us right away. I mean right away we get called,
they'll call us down here about four hours, oh gosh,
four hours, four hours. Gotta never we gotta look look,
turn around and look, go back and look look a lot.
You got to call us immediately, right right, because you
always talk about that all the time. You gotta follow
(05:08):
them immediately the time is this sence?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I mean, and I know you've heard me say that
so many times, but that's so critical because that can
make a big difference whether they're in one city or
another city or even another state, right right, So yeah,
that that.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That is very very important.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The the gentleman is missing night night now you know
he started he usually a car and now though we're
able to look them up in a car because of
flock cameras. We were head a guy in Middle Georgia.
We looked him up at flock cameras. Those have really
made a big difference. As before we used to see
a tag number and you go, well, we can't go
(05:45):
search because we're where are people search on the ground.
But now the flock cameras have really change it for us.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
With flock cameras, uh, you know, you run across the
situation where once they passed that camera, it alerts any vehicle,
any law enforcement in the area that they just buy
they just passed that intersection or that street. Also, if
they hit between one flock camera and another, it gives
(06:14):
us an area that you can actually put boots on
the ground and start searching. And that's very very important
because even if they're in a car, the car is
only going to go so far and if they have
a medical emergency, they're gonna stop or pull over. Somewhere
if they don't have an accident. So this is very
(06:37):
important and it's helped law enforcement greatly. But at the
same time, it's helped us to be able to put
boots on the ground and do it quickly. And like
Brett said, you know, calling us out immediately is so
important because waiting long periods of time, the the circle
(07:01):
of the area you're gonna search just gets bigger and
bigger and bigger. And it's highly.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Important because they're always at Alzheimer's. Patient is always moving,
constantly moving. He rarely stops. He's gonna move. He's looking
for something and he's looking, they're looking looking, looking at it.
He's constantly moving, and so you've got to be there
right away so that you can move with it. And
one good thing, you know, we talk about this all
the time, we laugh about it sometimes, is that they
(07:29):
say everybody goes to the woods. We haven't found anybody
who woods. In twenty years of searching for somebody, I
have not found anybody. I said that, not in the woods.
But they're usually the same place as we are every
day walking around like we're looking, you know, shopping center
in right now or here. Winnett County. They're everywhere. They're
they're here, They're not in the woods.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You know that that's a misperception that some law enforcement
agencies have gotten that when someone goes missing, they automatically
go in the woods instead of asking the questions. There's
the final questions that you need to ask about where
they used to go. If they used to work right
(08:13):
down the street, Well, has anybody checked where they used
to work? Has anybody checked the stores they used to
go to? Because more likely you're gonna find them there
a QT or walking down the street than in the woodline. Now,
there were they were massive hunters, and they used to
(08:34):
go hunting all the time. Then I can see you
going in the woods, but the chances of you finding
them there are really slim. Now, I don't say let's
not go in the woods and check, but you got
to find those answers to the questions before you can say, okay,
(08:54):
everybody into the woods. You can't just immediately have that
thought in your head that if they go missing, that's
where you're gonna find them. No, it's not. We haven't
found them. We found them, Like I said in QTS,
nursing homes in parks at a church, you know, at
the McDonald's Little Park. We found them there, Yeah, we did.
(09:16):
So there's different places that you're gonna find them. But
you got to ask the questions.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's always, it seems like always not the weather's not
like today it's beautiful outside. It's always going to be
raining cold every time we go out. It's not beautiful.
It's it's rough weather. We have to bed with that too.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Oh yeah, there's a you know, I'm pretty sure breaking
touching on this even more because the weather is changing
all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
We had the weather oh, I mean we can we've
been out and rain, we've been out, but it's sleeping.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
There any kind of weather it doesn't actually usually stop
us something.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So yeah, yeah we have rain gear and yeah we
are just put it on and go. We have to
go because they're outsearching. Another situation besides the Alzheimer's people,
which and we were very close with Alzheimer's Association. They've
been wonderful to us looking for these people. Besides the
Alzheimer's people are the missing kids. It just breaks our heart.
(10:21):
I know you're in this business because of the missing kids. Yes,
that's you. What about that we have more missing kids now.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, I mean you're having grandkids and everything else.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I mean, it's it hits my heart.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I mean, you know, kids go missing or something, so
that's one reason.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Why I do.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
But I mean, yeah, we end up getting a lot
of missing kids, and a lot of it is actually
not really where they're missing. I mean sometimes it's even
sex trafficking and stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Like that, which I don't know if you want to
hit with that, but I mean Angel knows a lot
about that, and he could probably hit a lot more
on that.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
But you know, that's what's said.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I mean, we don't know if it's actually missing or
what's going on.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So I mean that's why it's so critical again for
us to get out there quickly to find out what's
going on.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, Angel, what about that trafficking part? The trafficking right
now in Georgia? The first Lady has really done a
wonderful job and she has a Grace Commission and they've
done a wonderful job of cracking down on some of
the traffickers. But we have trafficking in Georgia. Mentally, well, you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Know, one of the things that Brett hit that I
really want to express is a lot of agencies need
to get away from this. It's a runaway. Yeah, no,
there are missing and endangered. You're putting the emphasis too
much on the kids when you tag them as a runaway.
(11:43):
A lot of departments, bigger departments, not the small ones,
but the bigger departments has SVU units that they vet.
The cases are coming through, which is great, but at
the same time, you know, you need to look into
these matters because right now Georgia is a hot place
(12:03):
for sex trafficking. There there's a lot of kids that
are going missing because of the Internet. They get on
the Internet and they're they're being taunted, they're being lured
by people in sex trafficking, and when they go missing,
(12:27):
it's the same thing. We need to be upfront with them.
We need to start doing things quickly because the time
that we get called and we get out there, we
can start investigating, having law enforcement and do their job
in investigating if they were on the internet, if they've
(12:47):
been if they were somewhere, who picked them up, did
they meet somebody or did they go really to a
friend's house, Because they are meeting people who who are
not exactly what they're saying on the internet. You know,
you could have a seventy year old man or a
(13:08):
fifty year old man saying, you know, put a picture
of a young teenager and saying, oh, yeah, I go
I've been at your school, or I go to your school.
I'm just you know, two grades above you. And then
they lure these kids in. And once they lure them,
you know, we're finding We found a couple that were
out of one atte and we found them in South
(13:29):
and South Atlanta, some in one was in Noonan So
and they were being in that they were being lured
for sex trafficking. One was actually already in there. So
these are things that we have to push the families.
(13:49):
Don't hesitate if you if you have a daughter or
a son that's on the computer, talk to them. You know,
our childre and are precious and they need to know
how much we care about them, how much we love them,
but how much we need to protect them. Because the
(14:11):
population that's out there right now of people that want
to do harm is growing is and that's and you know,
you can blame a lot of it on the Internet
and social media because it is you've given them a
tool to use against your child. So we need to
(14:32):
combat that and try to do what we can to
help those families get their child back from these people
and put and make sure that law enforcement does what
they need to do to prosecute these people also.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
You know, that's trafficking. That's another that's so critical that
you get to us or to law enforcement right away
because they take them on off, they take them out
of the country and no time, and you need to
get them right away, get somebody.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
And you know, we have a special lady that's part
of our group and she actually sits at home and ken.
She is so great with the computer and social media
that we've given her several cases to look at and
(15:28):
she'll find out things quickly and that has come to
help a lot, especially with one case that we did
out of Gainesville, Georgia with the young the young little
girl that went missing. They found her up in Ohio
(15:49):
is where they found her. So you know, we've got
a lot of information turned that over to GBI and
these things. You know, like I said, we're not we're
not the police, right, but we're here to help. We're
the resource to help the police and help the families
because you can't you know, there's only so much certain
(16:14):
people can do. But the more people that are helping,
the greater chance to solve and bring you know, families
back together.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
It's it's really it's it's sad. You see these people
missing and their families just they don't what to do then,
what to think. There are people that in another group
that are there. Maybe they have mental problems or something
like that. They too are missing, and they're older people
but in their thirties or forties or something, but they
have mental problems and have mental problems and health problems,
(16:46):
really physical health problems too. They're missing too, and we
need to get to them as well. Sometimes they're cargs
somewhere and they go offwhere and they go and the
family can't find them at all. We were one of
those recently.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Well that's why it's so critical for us to turn
around and get there as soon as we can. I mean,
keep in mind again, this is actually a free service,
so we you know, if you can call us out
right away, we can get out there. We'd rather be
called out and be called off and hey, we found him,
and that's that's an awesome thing, that's good news for
all of us. We'd rather go home with good news
(17:19):
than not find him at all.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Let's talk about who you are and who who some
of the people are, and what you do, and who
should call you and when they should call you. All
that too. I'll talk I want to get to. First
of all, let's talk about Maverick. He's a canine. You
have a knine, now we don't.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
We have a.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Seventy pound baby boy. He just not too long ago,
just turned one year. He's gotten a lot of his
training done. We're waiting to finish up his certification and
then we got a lot more training to do with him.
But he is great, I mean very smart. He's a
(18:01):
chocolate lap and he comes out and you can he's
a tracking trailing so he can, you know, get on
the scent and be out there looking for children and adults.
He's very essential. Yeah, he he is. He's a very
(18:24):
good part of our group because dogs can sense and
they they can track a lot better than we can
sometimes and depending on the weather, sometimes the weather helps them.
Sometimes you know, the weather does it, so you have
(18:46):
to be you know, our handler is Carmen Alonso. She's
our handler and she does a great job with him.
She's she's been certified as a canine handler, and uh,
she really trains a lot with the dog and gets
out there and and does a lot. Plus she has
(19:08):
friends of hers that work for other agencies that come
in and help us.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Also, you, I want to talk about your new truck
because you got from Thomasville a Police department the new truck,
so talk about that. It's it's it's now decorated up
with you your logo, but you got from Tamsville Police
and we want to give them credit for it. Thank you.
But it's up a great job.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Ben yea Thomasville Police Department had a great hand in
giving us uh and helping us with the new canine vehicle.
It's an old canine police car, but it's uh in
great shade.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It come came completely backed out and now it's uh.
The logos are on, the lights are on, and UH
can't wait. U. The other day we took it out
for a spind with touch of truck. Yeah, and of
course Maverick got his first ride in it. That's right,
(20:06):
had a great time, got plenty of room in the
back to stretch out, so that it's it's very good.
We can't wait too to put it to more use.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, and we thank the towns of the police department
for for helping us out with that. We really, we
really use it. We're really gonna use that. It's gonna
be really good. And now if someone wants to need you,
first of all, call right away, don't wait two days
or three days, call right away, called a night twenty
four to seven, three sixty five every day. But who
(20:39):
should call you and who one of the numbers that
you'd call, and your website to any any.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Information that you have, well, they can go on the
they can go on the internet and find us under
george Emergency Search and Rescue dot org. We have our
email address which is Carmen at Georgia Emergency Search and
Rescue dot org. They can reach out to us by
calling calling me direct. My number is twenty four to seven,
(21:09):
so it's four seven five, two five eight six ninety
five and that's twenty four to seven for law enforcement
and families. So if you have a loved one missing
or your law enforcement and need secondary help, please reach
out to us. You can also go on Facebook. We're
(21:32):
at GSR Team which is g E s A R
Team all one word and you can see everything that
we're working on have worked on, and you can reach
us through that that page also and get some information
through there and see everything we do because there's a
(21:53):
lot of things that you know, we assist in disasters,
major disaster searches and so forth. So we're out here
for to help the community and every.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Which way, and also law enforcement. It's gonna have to
be involved anyway. You will call law enforcement. You can
help the people law enforce, you call you first, but
you can also help the family can call, but you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Call law enforcement too, right, Yes, law enforcement can call
us direct and we're we'll be quick on the scene.
If family members call, they need to understand that we
don't do anything without notifying law enforcement. We do work
side by side with them to make sure that they
know that we're out there searching and who we're searching for,
(22:41):
because we're we are a side resource so for them
and for counties, and like we said, we do the
whole state of Georgia. So we want to make sure
that anybody that calls us, you know that law enforcement
jurisdiction knows that we're out there.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And Brett I would give out your number because I
mean you you on the call too, So if they
can't reach Angel, they reach you or reach me, but
give your number.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
My phone number is six seven eight two five zero
five six nine zero, and we want.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
To give your number two.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, you get my number out there.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
John's number is four four three oh nine seven three
eight six, so you can actually reach out to any
one of those numbers.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
And what I would do is start with the Angel.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
If you can't get old Angels, try to either John
or myself.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah. Yeah, we'll we will, we'll do, and we'll do
state wide. Well stay right too as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
We are.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
We have to work sometimes, but uh, we'll come out.
We'll come out. And anything else regarding regarding this angel
we want to talk about. I know we want to
tell people to call for Alzheimer's kids, kids that are missing, missing,
adults with mental health problems, or anything like that, but
just call us for anybody really.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yes, uh, well, you know, we want to reach out
to the community and let you know we are nonprofit
so we don't get paid to do this. We do
accept donations on our website that we use for gear
and training purposes. But also I want to express to
(24:19):
people that are out there that might have it in
their heart they would like to be part of a
team where they can come and help others. They can
reach out to us. They need to understand they're not
going to get paid for this, and there might be
out of pocket a little bit of money, but we
will help them to get certified. We will give them training.
(24:42):
They can you know, get background checked because everybody on
our team is background checked. There you've got to be
vetted so because we deal with law enforcement and a
lot of you know, personal stuff. So they can reach
us through through the website and get to us that
one more time. The website is Georgia Emergency Search and
(25:05):
Rescue dot org.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Thanks log guys, I appreciate it, Thank you so much.
Thank you. That's Angel Alonzo and Brett Gordon with Georgia
Emergency Search and Rescue. You can reach out to them
anytime at four seven o five two five eight six
nine five four seven oh five two five eight six
nine five, or you can contact them at Carmen at
Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue dot org. For questions and
(25:28):
comments on today's program, you can email me John Clark
at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to
you next week right here on your local radio station
on Georgia Focus
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