Training the trainer?

Regarding the possible issue of training for law enforcement, in one of the NCMEC pdf’s concerning Partnering with NCMEC, they provided some historical information. On their fast facts page, they state that “ …from April 1984 through December 2003, …NCMEC has trained more than 184,000 law-enforcement professionals…”

This would indicate on average they trained @ 20,444 individuals per year. The Fiscal year 2005 training budget, from their annual report for last year, was $4,336,861 so at least for FY 2005 it would average @$212 per individual. If you look at their course offerings which are fairly extensive, and the fact they pay expenses to attend the courses, possibly allocation of training expense is an issue as it represents only 11% of the total program expenses.




















These are the costs incurred to attend training, and what is provided?











*Continental breakfast and buffet lunches will be provided at all training sessions in NCMEC facilities in Alexandria, VA, and Rochester, NY.


This would appear based on the available training schedules to be only a fraction of the educational services they provide as the courses don't include LOCATER training etc.

NCMEC Training

Nip it..Nip it..Nip it...

While searching the various Missing Children blogs,there is an interesting post concerning a La Salle Il. police chief at the Kids Search Network blog .

Should you visit the NCMEC website there are several tools available for law enforcement, including this pdf manual, so it is unclear where the disconnect lies. Most every site dealing with missing children advises parents to immediately contact 911 or local law enforcement.

Missing and Abducted Children: A Law-Enforcement Guide to Case Investigation and Program Management

Authored by a team of 38 professionals from local, state, and federal agencies, this guide outlines a standard of practice for law-enforcement officers handling missing-child cases whether runaways, thrownaways, family/nonfamily abductions, or when the circumstances of the disappearance are unknown. It describes — step-by-step with definitive checklists — the investigative process required for each of these types of cases and offers a wealth of resources to assist an investigator. 224 pp.

Download this publication (PDF)English

$64k question not a $32,565,881 one

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a federally funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2005 NCMEC's received $32,565,881 to support their mission which "...is to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; help find missing children; and assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them...".

According to their site information, since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more than 117,100 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 99,500 children.

Their 2005 Annual Report indicates, "...NCMEC has played a key role in raising our nation’s recovery rate of missing children from 62 percent in 1990 to more than 96 percent today..."

Here is what I don't understand



However, the questions that I have are:

1) What happened to all the other children? They were established in 1984. If @880k children go missing that are reported each year (an estimated 500,000 more are not reported) wouldn’t that mean 17,600,000 give or take a few million have gone missing since 1984. They have recovered 99,500 children which is certainly admirable.

2) What is the recovery success ratio of 96% based on? Is it only based on non family abductions or do they include those classified as throwaways, runaways, family abductions, voluntarily missing, lost or injured?

3) What is the actual number of children recovered and what was the criteria used to classify them?

May 25th - National Missing Children's Day

Proclaimed National Missing Children’s Day by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, May 25th serves as an annual reminder to make child protection a national priority.

Please take a few minutes to view the currently missing children at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children site

http://www.missingkids.com/

Criminal minds

Some parents and guardians are concerned with their children's safety and fear the potential risk of the internet. It is important to distinguish between types of internet crimes.

• Crimes commited by on-line predators who search for children in chat rooms or for those children who place their personal information on a weblog (Blog)

• White collar crimes

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) was established as a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to serve as a means to receive Internet related criminal complaints.

Most common and ongoing Internet trends and schemes identified by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3):

· Auction Fraud
· Auction Fraud - Romania
· Counterfeit Cashier's Check
· Credit Card Fraud
· Debt Elimination
· Parcel Courier Email Scheme
· Employment/Business Opportunities
· Escrow Services Fraud
· Identity Theft
· Internet Extortion
· Investment Fraud
· Lotteries
· Nigerian Letter or "419"
· Phishing/Spoofing
· Ponzi/Pyramid
· Reshipping
· Spam
· Third Party Receiver of Funds

http://www.ic3.gov/media/IC3-flyer.pdf

On-line risks

Two of the major issues facing parents as it relates to the internet are the concern over identity theft and becoming a victim of a crime. The lines between the two have a tendency to blur.
Often time parents or guardians hesitate to register their children with an online service due to their own fear of the internet. Little do they realize their children are often very active users either at home, school, in a library or at a friend’s home.

Interesting excerpt from the netzsmart.org website http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/risks.htm

“...Before spending valuable learning time on activities to reduce child victimization online, it is important to understand the need for this information. Children of all ages are flocking to the Internet. Forty-five percent of children in the United States — more than 30 million of those younger than 18 — use the Internet.1

It is important to note the types of dangers that children may be susceptible to on the Internet. In addition to the useful and educational information available on the Internet, a great deal of content exists that is not appropriate for children. This content can include nudity or other sexually explicit material; hate group or racist web sites; promotional material about tobacco, alcohol, or drugs; graphic violence; information on satanic or cult groups; or even recipes for making bombs or other explosives. 2…”

1More Online, Doing More. Washington, DC: The Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2001, page 2.
2Internet Safety. Atlanta, Georgia: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 2001, page 13.

How many missing children are there?

Answer:

The problem of missing children is complex and multifaceted. There are different types of missing children including family abductions; endangered runaways; nonfamily abductions; and lost, injured, or otherwise missing children.


The best national estimates for the number of missing children are from incidence studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To date two such studies have been completed.

The first National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-1) was released in 1990, and the second, known as NISMART-2, was released in October 2002. According to NISMART-2 research, which studied the year 1999, an estimated 797,500 children were reported missing; 58,200 children were abducted by nonfamily members; 115 children were the victims of the most serious, long-term nonfamily abductions called "stereotypical kidnappings"; and 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.

REFERENCE: For more information on missing children abduction estimates and the NISMART studies, please read
NISMART-2, October 2002. National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview Adobe PDF
NISMART-2, October 2002. Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Characteristics Adobe PDF
NISMART-2, October 2002. Children Abducted by Family Members: National Estimates and Characteristics Adobe PDF
NISMART-2, October 2002. Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics Adobe PDF
NISMART-2, October 2002. NISMART Questions and Answers Adobe PDF

There are several ways to categorize missing children...

• Your child can be missing briefly because of a minor misunderstanding or childhood forgetfulness, during which he may not even know that his parents consider him missing

• A child may also get lost, or may be injured in a place where he can’t call for help

•A child may be a runaway: the majority of missing adolescents are runaways

• A child may be a “throw-away”, a child actually told by a caretaker to leave home

• A child may be abducted by a relative, most often as the result of a custody or visitation dispute

• A child may be the victim of a non-family abduction. This category includes the Stereotypical Kidnapping, which is the most frightening of circumstances and, as a federal crime, requires the involvement of the FBI.


* Statistics based on Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention