Halifax Regional Police have launched a tracking program to help locate people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia if they wander off.

The pilot program is called Project S.O.F.T. Wear and stands for Satellite Option Finding Technology. It's designed for people who are at least 55 years old, have Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia and have a history of getting lost.

"We'd like to prevent people who wander already from being injured," said Const. Matthew MacGillivray with the Halifax Regional Police training division.

"Ideally, it will be people who are at risk or a higher risk for wandering."

The devices, which are worn on the wrist, will provide real-time tracking using internet mapping software. If someone wearing a bracelet roams, police officers will be able to track the person to within three metres of their position.

It weighs a few ounces and contains a SIM card to make or receive emergency calls.

Ten of the bracelets were bought with funding from the Nova Scotia Department of Seniors.

"We know that people who wander, if they're not found within the first 12 hours there could be dire consequences," said Linda Bird, the director of programs and services for the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia.

"In Nova Scotia, there's over 15,000 individuals with the disease and we think approximately 60 per cent of people with dementia are at risk of wandering, so there's a huge potential for locating devices in the future to help families."

Ann West, whose husband Fred has Alzheimer's, said she hopes her husband is a candidate for the pilot program.

"For the first time in November, he got lost," she said.

"He doesn't go very far alone anymore."

Alzheimer's has been a part of West's life for 13 years, and she said a bracelet seems like a good idea.

"I'm sure he would be happy to wear it and it certainly is a comfort for family because it is a fear that they will wander and get lost," she told CBC News.

"He's very considerate of me, so he would see it as lessening my worries, I think."

The program is available to residents of Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford — communities patrolled by Halifax Regional Police officers.

All the bracelets should be operating by the end of the month and the pilot program is scheduled to run for the next year. The program is free for the participants.