Last month the office of the Ohio Attorney General released the Missing Child Clearing house annual report. According to the report there were 22,204 faces in Ohio that had the potential to be on a milk carton in 2008. Of the missing, 76 cases were reported within Athens County.
In Athens, if a missing person is reported to the Ohio University Police Department, the police conduct an investigation based on whether or not the missing person is considered to be critical said Andrew Powers, OUPD chief of police.
These situations are extremely dynamic and fluid and vary from situation to situation
Powers said.
A critical person is someone who is aged 21 or younger, over the age of 60, handicapped in anyway or a possible victim of foul play, Powers said. After the initial report of a missing person, the OUPD will conduct a preliminary investigation, including getting the information on the missing person into a computer database and contacting friends and family members who may know the person's whereabouts.
People over the age of 21 who are reported missing are not usually considered to be critical at first, but OUPD conducts a preliminary investigation for these cases as well. If the person could be in danger or is expected to be a victim of foul play, their case becomes critical.
According to the report, in Ohio, a large percentage of missing youths are between the ages of 13 to 17 and a majority of them have been reported as runaways. Earlier this year, OUPD was contacted by an agency near Columbus who helped to return a suspected juvenile runaway from Westerville who came to Athens most likely to visit a friend,Powers said.
Nancy McBride, national safety director of The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said that some of these cases probably have to do with teenagers meeting people through social networking sites, starting a relationship and then deciding to meet with them outside of cyberspace.
A lot of times kids think they have a relationship with this person that this is their friend that they are in love with the person and it turns out that the whole motivation (for the relationship) is sexual
she said.
McBride said that in these types of cases, the computer used for the communication as well as the social networking sites used to contact the person are essential for finding the runaway.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a resource parents can use if their child has gone missing, and McBride said that parents should report a missing child to the center as soon as possible.
Time is the enemy
McBride said adding that after an initial report of a missing child has been issued, law enforcement has two hours to report to the National Crime Information Center.
McBride stressed that a clear photograph of the missing child is essential to their recovery.
As soon as we've got the scanned photo and the parents authorization we can make a missing child's poster and target where it goes
McBride said.
New technology is incredibly beneficial throughout the search for the missing because it provides an outlet for instant posting of a picture, which could lead to quicker recognition of the missing child.
Getting that picture out there is really important because it only takes one set of eyes to bring a child home
she said.
In severe cases the state may choose to issue an AMBER alert, which is an announcement sent out over various media outlets to find abducted children, said Tamara McBride, spokesperson for Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
AMBER alerts do not get issued for runaways, Tamara McBride said, adding that individuals have to meet certain criteria determined by law enforcement before the report can be issued. Certain agencies get these reports and people can sign up to receive them on their mobile phones, Tamara McBride said.
The more eyes and ears we have out there the more chances we have to find the child
she said.
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