Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.
A child is missing.
That simple statement is enough to send chills through any parent. But soon, local residents may hear it uttered over the telephone along with a request for help.
Beginning this week, Metro Police plan to begin using the services of a Florida-based nonprofit organization called A Child Is Missing, which uses a "reverse 911 system" to quickly call citizens when children, the elderly and mentally or physically challenged adults go missing.
Ten detectives from the Metro Police missing persons and juvenile delinquency sections will be trained Wednesday on how to use the free system.
"This just gives us a tool when (a missing child situation) doesn't rise to the level of an Amber Alert," Lt. Brad Simpson, head of the missing persons section, said.
The system works like this: When a parent or caregiver calls police to report a child or elderly or disabled person missing, police call the A Child is Missing's toll-free hotline.
A representative of A Child is Missing takes the pertinent information then records a message to be sent out via telephone to all the phone numbers within a specified neighborhood or section of a city.
The telephone technology used by A Child is Missing can place 1,000 phone calls within one minute, Claudia Corrigan, spokeswoman for the organization, said.
Simpson said the recorded message will say something to the effect of, "This is the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and we are presently looking for a child in your neighborhood." It will describe the child and the circumstances.
"We want those calls to go out ASAP so everyone in the neighborhood knows a child is missing," Corrigan said. "We ask them to look outside their premises and call the police department" if they see anything suspicious.
The organization helped find 52 children and adults in the past two years, Corrigan said.
Law enforcement agencies in six other states -- Florida, Rhode Island, Ohio, Georgia and Alaska -- also use the service.
Metro receives 400 to 500 calls reporting runaway children per month. Most are found within 48 hours.
Police will use A Child is Missing system when children who have no history of running away or have no reason to voluntarily leave home go missing, or when the circumstances appear suspicious.
"It's very grassroots, very community-driven," Corrigan said. "We literally link law enforcement with the community. It's amazing."
The system will be used along with the regular investigative work conducted by police and, if appropriate, the Amber Alert system.
Asked how often he expects to use the system, Simpson said, "Hopefully never."
But based on the size of the region, he said he can see issuing one or two Amber Alerts per year and the A Child is Missing system a few more times than that.
Nevada's Amber Alert system went into effect July 1, 2003. That system involves radio, television and electronic highway sign alerts intended to quickly notify the public of child abductions. Those alerts include pertinent information, such as a description of suspects' vehicles, to help locate the children and abductors.
Metro issued one Amber Alert last year, in late June, about a week before the system was fully operational. A car was stolen from a parking lot at Decatur Boulevard and Meadows Lane with a 16-month-old boy strapped inside.
A convenience store worker called police about five hours later after noticing a car with a child alone inside idling in the parking lot.
Another nonprofit organization devoted to finding missing children also works closely with Metro. Nevada Child Seekers helps with physical searches, crisis counseling for parents and children, education and prevention.
"We gave a really good system here," Simpson said.
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