The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-213-5162
Release Date: September 10, 2004
Sheriff hosts regional training session on high-tech missing
child alert system --- 31 police agencies from 7 counties learn about
notification program
Representatives from law enforcement agencies as far away as Jackson
and Flint came to
Wayne County last week to learn about a high-tech tool now available
to assist them in the event a child turns up missing in their community.
Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans, who was the first major law
enforcement official in Michigan to implement the A Child is Missing
[ACIM] telephone alert system, hosted the event at its training
facility at Wayne County Community College in Van Buren Township.
More than 70 police officers in attendance saw the power of ACIM’s
unique telephone alert system, which sends out thousands of customized
pre-recorded phone messages to homes and businesses in the immediate
vicinity of a reported disappearance or abduction. The non-profit
organization, which is based in Florida, uses computer mapping
and databases to retrieve the phone numbers, which can be dialed
at the rate of 1,000 per minute.
Evans added the service to his Missing & Exploited Children’s
Task Force in April, when he announced the Sheriff’s Rescue
Network, which he has made available to all 43 police agencies
in Wayne County. The Task Force is made up of five sheriff’s
deputies and two Detroit Police officers whose sole responsibility
is to find missing children.
“These phone messages contains specific information about
the time and location of the child’s disappearance, as well
as their description,” Evans said. “What that does
is enlist an army of eyes and ears in the immediate area of the
disappearance, which is a tremendous help to police.”
The results can be dramatic, according to ACIM trainer Ralph Caporale. “We
had one instance where a man dropped off a young girl he had abducted
because he saw people coming out of their homes, looking for the
girl and calling her name.”
It’s that kind of result that Evans hopes will attract those
law enforcement agencies that attended the training to sign up
for the free services.
“Time is the most critical factor working against us when
we are looking for a missing child,” Evans said. “Within
a matter of a few minutes, we will have the ability to contact
thousands of individuals who will become our eyes and ears to help
us locate the child,” Evans said.
In Wayne County, approximately 3,000 children are reported missing
each year. While most are either recovered or return on their own,
the county’s Missing & Exploited Children’s Task
Force, which is made up of Sheriff’s Deputies and Detroit
Police officers, has safely recovered more than 350 missing children
since it was created in October, 2003
WAYNE COUNTY ATTENDEES
August 26, 2004
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1. Detroit P.D.
2. Redford Twp. P.D.
3. Trenton P.D.
4. Roseville P.D.
5. Novi P.D.
6. Grosse Pointe Woods P.D.
7. Royal Oak P.D.
8. Macomb County S.O.
9. Wyandotte P.D.
10. Washtenaw County S.O.
11. Jackson P.D.
12. Flat Rock P.D.
13. Harper Woods P.D.
14. Dearborn Heights P.D.
15. Allen Park P.D.
16. Woodhaven P.D. |
17. Grosse Point Farms P.D.
18. Southgate P.D.
19. West Bloomfield P.D.
20. Melvindale P.D.
21. Flint P.D.
22. Monroe County S.O.
23. Highland Park P.D.
24. Brownstown P.D.
25. Westland P.D.
26. Sterling Heights P.D.
27. Farmington Hills P.D.
28. Oakland Park P.D
29. Michigan State Police
30. St, Claire Shores P.D.
31. Shelby Township P.D |
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