Published: May 12, 2007 09:46 am         

City force joins national program to find missing people

Geo-mapping, satellite imagery determine what areas will receive automated phone calls

CUMBERLAND — If you receive an automated phone call at home informing you about a missing person, don’t be alarmed. It is the result of Cumberland Police Department’s involvement in a national program that helps find missing people.

The national A Child Is Missing program helps find missing children or vulnerable adults quickly after they are reported missing to the department. The cases are screened by department supervisors to determine if they qualify for the assistance of the program.

“This is an excellent program that will assist law enforcement in investigation of missing persons through the use of emerging technology,” said Cumberland Police Chief Charles Hinnant.

A Child Is Missing is a nonprofit organization based in Florida that assists law enforcement agencies in cases of missing children and adults as well as autistic or handicapped people who walk away from their residences.

The program works in concert with the Amber Alert System but is separate from that program, which is used for stranger abductions when suspect information is available.

A Child Is Missing is the only program of its kind in the nation and has very few restrictions. It can be activated by a simple phone call. Law enforcement needs no special equipment or personnel to activate the system.

To date, law enforcement has credited the program with more than 200 lost or missing person recoveries, with the average time in each case being 90 minutes.

Specifically, the program calls citizens within specific areas as dictated by the missing child or vulnerable adult report.

Once a parent or guardian calls 911 to report the missing person case, an officer responds, takes the information and then calls the toll-free A Child Is Missing phone number and alerts the staff of the missing person.

A staff member of the A Child Is Missing program then places recorded telephone calls in the area where the child/person was last seen with the Cumberland Police Department telephone number provided to callers to report leads or information.

The recorded phone calls are made within seconds of the investigating police officer contacting A Child Is Missing. Up to 1,000 telephone alert calls can be placed in 60 seconds.

If the person is not located, then A Child Is Missing expands the search and makes additional phone calls. A Child Is Missing uses a geo-mapping system and satellite imagery program to determine what areas to call.

Capt. Kevin Ogle said the program has already been utilized once by the department — for a missing man who was located safe and unharmed in another area the next day.

However, the automated calls to some city residents prompted inquiries.

“Some people called and wondered if it was a prank. So we wanted to get word out that this is a new tool that we are utilizing in locating missing persons,” said Ogle.

“The quicker you get information out to local people, the better chance you have of a positive result,” he said.

Jeff Alderton can be reached at jlalderton@times-news.com.