Dementia sufferers are to be tracked for the first time by police through GPS devices.
The move will save time and money by reducing the hours that officers spend searching for patients who regularly go missing.
Sussex Police is paying for 15 patients to be fitted with the satellite global positioning systems as part of a £400-a-month trial.
The MindMe device can be worn around a patient's neck, clipped to a belt or attached to house keys.
It features a button that enables the wearer to speak directly to an operator at a 24-hour call centre.
Family and friends can also log in to the system and monitor the whereabouts of loved ones. More than 100 local authorities already use similar devices to track such patients but Sussex Police is the first force to adopt the scheme in Britain.
Chief Inspector Tanya Jones said: "The GPS will be very cost-effective. It will reduce anxiety for the family and police time spent on this issue."
But Neil Duncan-Jordan, of the National Pensioners' Convention, claimed the idea was "inhumane".
He said: "It smacks of criminality. It puts them on a par with common offenders or people with Asbos. We should not be looking at dementia sufferers in that way."
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