HHPD
Joins “A Child is Missing” Network
The Hasbrouck Heights Police Department announced that it has
joined with, “A Child is Missing” network (ACIM),
a national non-profit organization that is available to, and
only activated by, the law enforcement community.
Here is how the program works: A person calls the Police Department
to report a missing child, elderly or disabled person. The police
department then calls “A Child Is Missing” on a
toll-free number and provides all pertinent information about
the missing person, including description, clothes worn and
time/location last seen, including a cell or beeper number of
the officer on the scene for additional information.
The location last seen is entered into the computer and a database
of phone numbers of the residents/businesses is gathered.
The technician records a personalized message with case details
asking residents for information and to check their premises.
Answering machines can pick up ACIM calls so that residents
can hear the alert when returning home.
HHPD Captain John DeLorenzo stated that those with blocked,
do not call or unlisted phone numbers can participate by providing
the system with their phone number for exclusive use in this
program.
ACIM can place 1,000 calls in sixty seconds, can process multiple
cases simultaneously, and can work without jurisdictional boundaries,
via a rapid-response neighborhood notification program utilizing
high-tech telephony.
In order to have a faster search time and more definitive results,
ACIM acquired a satellite imaging program that allows their
technicians geographic data of a specific area that could make
a critical difference in a search for a missing child.
Moments after putting in an address, an aerial view of the region
is seen, complete with street names, local landmarks, type of
terrain, business listings, restaurants, schools, water, parks,
bus and train stations and more. It allows the technician to
intuitively grasp distance, scale, proximity, and know the region
as a whole. All of this information could prove invaluable when
evaluating a missing child scenario.
Armed with this tool, “hotspots” can be identified:
areas to where a missing child might gravitate. A child’s
curiosity might lead them to a lake. A wandering pre-teen on
a cold evening might seek the warmth and camouflage of a fast
food restaurant. Further, the technician can seamlessly follow
a likely path of a missing child or elderly and reasonably project
a best-instance “finder zone” when expanding a regional
search.
When a child is reported missing near water, the immediate area
is canvassed with the message, then the search area is expanded
if the child has not been found.
ACIM continues to work with the officer on the scene and/or
the communications department until the missing person has been
found.
After recovery, the agency calls ACIM to stop the search. ACIM
then faxes a case follow-up form to the officer/agency to be
filled out, documenting the conclusion of the case. The agency
then faxes the form back to ACIM. This documentation assists
ACIM in obtaining funding to continue offering their services
to law enforcement.
“A Child Is Missing” (ACIM), a Fort Lauderdale-based
non-profit organization founded in 1996, was created because
no community-based program existed for locating missing children,
the disabled and elderly during the crucial first hours of disappearance.
A child goes missing every 40 seconds in the United States.
Your child has a 1 in 42 chance of going missing. Website: www.achildmissing.org
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