Team Ready to Handle Abduction
Once abducted, there’s a 44 percent chance a predator will kill a child within an hour and the odds are bleaker after three. Many children are found within three miles of an abduction site, statistics from Medina County’s Child Abduction Response Team show.
To deal with a potential abduction, the county assembled CART, with more than 62 members including law enforcement and civilians.
Montville Township Police Chief Thomas Acklin said he was inspired to spearhead the project after he thought about what Montville would do if an abduction happened in his township.
“We would need an organizational structure for these people who would come to help and what their specific job would be, because time is of the essence in these situations,” Acklin said. “Every agency in this county would need people to help.”
In October 2007, Acklin got a group of 15 individuals from various law enforcement agencies in the county and the Medina County Prosecutor’s Office to attend weeklong CART training in Pittsburgh.
“Then we came back and formed a steering committee,” he said.
The committee formulated a response plan, identified key personnel to be assigned as team members, conducted training and drafted a memorandum of understanding between all law enforcement agencies in the county, a CART statement said.
“The local jurisdiction is still in charge of the investigation, the team is just there to assist,” Acklin explained. “You have so many people coming to the scene at once and they’re ready to move. It makes a huge difference.”
Examples of some assignments include: team leaders, volunteer coordinators, a media liaison, investigative manager and logistics manager, and the prosecutor’s office would send attorneys to the scene as well, Acklin said.
In September, a training exercise was conducted with more than 35 personnel in attendance from local law enforcement, the county prosecutor’s office and the FBI, Acklin said.
The exercise scenario involved a 9-year-old who went missing in a local park. A description of the child and details of the incident were provided, and people were asked what their next steps would be, Acklin said.
“You’re looking for a response like shutting the park down, not letting anyone leave, interviewing parents to try to find witnesses … and then it builds as you go along,” he said, adding the exercise lasted about four hours and a field exercise is being planned for the spring of 2009.
In a real situation, Acklin said there are certain criteria that have to be met before a team is called in, including:
– A true (nonfamily) abduction of a minor child (younger than age 18).
– The abduction of a minor child with endangerment circumstances. These must clearly be articulated to an on-scene coordinator or county CART coordinator in order to activate the team members. The child’s disappearance or abduction has to meet the endangerment criteria if the child’s life or well-being is perceived to be at risk due to violence or health conditions, or if the identified parental abductor has a potential for violence or could endanger the child.
– Any other abduction or missing child investigation that requires immediate response in order to protect the well-being of the child.
– A person 65 years of age or older, or has a mental impairment and whose disappearance poses a credible threat of immediate danger of harm or death to the individual.
Once the criteria are met, Acklin said he would call or fax an organization in Florida called A Child Is Missing, which has all the team members’ numbers on record. Then he would record a short message telling the members to report to the specific location, which would go out to everyone simultaneously, the chief said.
Florida was the first state to assemble CART in August 2004, Acklin said.
“A major impetus” for CART was the abduction and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, of Sarasota, Fla., on Super Bowl Sunday in 2004, a CART statement said. “The U.S. Department of Justice launched an initiative to train CART throughout the nation in November 2005. This training was developed and conducted by Fox Valley Community College and continues today.”
In early 2006, the statement said a grant proposal was submitted to then-Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro for startup funding for a statewide Ohio CART program, and Petro awarded the grant to the Law Enforcement Foundation.
“It’s been a lot of work organizing all these agencies,” Acklin said, “but it’s well worth it.”
Source: Medina-Gazette.com, Friday, December 5, 2008.
