This morning was proof positive for police how effective their methods are of alerting residents and business owners to emergency situations.

Police recieved a report Friday morning that an 87-year-old memory-impaired man was missing from his 229 Daniel Webster Highway home. He was identified as Robert Higgins.

According to a press release from Lt. Paul Trepaney, Merrimack officers immediately began checking area businesses located near the home on Daniel Webster Highway in the south end of town as communciations made notifications to area businesses and other jurisdictions.

"Merrimack Police also utilized notification services such as A Child is Missing and Nixle, along with the agency's social media sites, Facebook and Twitter," Trepaney said. "Shortly after these notificiations went out, a subscriber to the Nixle notification service notified Merrimack Police that she had seen Higgins in the Fidelity Parking garage."

Investigators responded Fidelity where Higgins had been located by Fidelity Security in the lobby of the business. He did not require any medical treatment by EMS and was returned home safely to family by Merrimack officers.

"Utilizing the notification services assisted the Merrimack Police in locating the missing resident in just under an hour," Trepaney said.

The report that Higgins was missing came in at 8:21 a.m. and the Nixle text alert was sent at 8:56 a.m. It was confirmed that he'd been found at 9:14 a.m.

Nixle is a free notification service that residents can sign up for at www.nixle.com. It is utilized by many area agencies and can notify concerned residents about emergency situations such as extreme weather, traffic accidents as well as missing persons among other things.