Greene County Sheriff's Department
Joins Nationwide Effort To Prevent Child Abductions
Missouri
Do you wonder where your children are? The Greene County Sheriff's Department is doing all
they can in the hopes that you'll not have to ask that question by joining a nationwide
effort to help prevent child abductions. Using the latest software available from The
Child Alert Foundation (CAF), Greene County will be installing the Abduction Central Alert
(ACA) program created to assist law enforcement and 911 dispatch operators to alert the
surrounding community in the event that your child is abducted or considered missing.
What's the need of such software? Expediency is of prime importance. Vince Albers,
developer and cofounder of the Child Alert Foundation, cites "The first hour when a
child is reported missing is extremely critical and time is of the essence. One minute can
equate to one mile and in that time the further that a child can be spirited away."
The
Abduction Central Alert (ACA) software program is an automated process that can identify
adjacent police, radio, television and support organizations within a 100 mile radius of
the reported abduction who are participating in the system. Those contacts are
electronically notified through pagers, faxes and emails with the pertinent information
also being immediately posted on the Internet for others to utilize.
LeLand McMasters, Chief of Police for Rogersville, MO was the first in the nation to
realize the importance of such technology and volunteered to be the first test site of the
ACA software almost one year ago last August. Since then, the ACA system has spread to
over seven (7) states with twenty one (21) installations and is continuing to spread as
more and more law enforcement officials see the power of the application.
"This is where I believe our system excels," says Albers. "A program needs
to have closure in order for it to work well. So often data is input through a program but
the means to update and terminate an incident to aid officials of existing conditions is
not provided." The ACA software also allows other police departments other than the
reporting host to utilize the information and provides the host with the means to update
and close the report.
The Child Alert Foundation hopes to cross boundaries with this program. As more and more
police departments such as Greene County become participants in the program, the
surrounding areas will have many points
of overlap with each ones 100 mile radius. Law enforcement will be able to work in closer
contact with one another for a common cause.
The more the ACA system is used the more it becomes interconnected. The greater the amount
of coverage, the greater the effect. The Child Alert Foundation hopes to provide more
inter connectivity between web sites,
providing any additional amount of information that may be helpful as tracking aids.
The registration fee for police to implement this software is $250. This is a one-time
charge that used to help cover the phone, pager and fax costs. Some other non-profit
organizations such as Bikers for Kids and
Southern Cruisers, have felt so strongly about the program that they have donated the
registration fees to see the application installed at their local police and
sheriff’s department. Melanie Flood, cofounder of Bikers for Kids, has been
instrumental in sponsoring fun runs, poker runs and swap meets to help raise enough money
to cover as many counties that she can. Bikers for Kids has another event scheduled later
this July.
For more information concerning the details of this program, check out the website:
http://www.childalert.org or you can call the Child Alert Foundation office at
570-928-8422.
--
Vincent A. Albers III
Vice President / Cofounder
Child Alert Foundation
http://www.childalert.org
570-928-8422
570-928-8110 (fax)
vaaiii@epix.net
