diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
index 72f4c46b9..74079ff93 100644
--- a/app/models/person.rb
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class Person
      /^(https?):\/\/[a-z0-9]+([\-\.]{1}[a-z0-9]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,5})?(:[0-9]{1,5})?(\/.*)?$/ix
 
   def self.search(query)
-    query = query.to_s.strip
+    query = Regexp.escape( query.to_s.strip )
     Person.all('profile.first_name' => /^#{query}/i) | Person.all('profile.last_name' => /^#{query}/i)
   end