Plan in Place for Missing Children

A middle school student might get off the school bus and not go home. A toddler might hide in the closet or wander into the yard. When a child goes missing a response team pulls together to find the child no matter the circumstances.

At A Glance

Child Abduction Response Team

Members from 22 agencies make up the Child Abduction Response Team, which responds to missing child cases in Benton County. The task force, formed in 2011, is still growing, members said. The task force meets quarterly. The team currently has members from:

• Benton County Sheriff’s Office

• Bentonville Police Department

• Rogers Police Department

• Bella Vista Police Department

• Siloam Springs Police Department

• Lowell Police Department

• Arkansas State Police

• Cave Springs Police Department

• Gentry Police Department

• Gravette Police Department

• Decatur Police Department

• Little Flock Police Department

• Benton County Prosecutor’s Office

• Children’s Advocacy Center

• Morgan Nick Foundation

• Department of Human Services, Department of Child and Family Services

• Benton County Emergency Management

• Benton County Central Communications

• Benton County Adult Probation/Parole

• Benton County Juvenile Probation

• Bentonville Fire Department

• Rogers Fire Department

Source: Staff Report

“As the age drops, the response rises,” said Capt. Ron Largent of the Rogers Police Department.

In Rogers, any report of a missing child age 12 and under gets a heightened response. A missing child under 7 is deemed critical.

“It’s a big deal,” Largent said.

A 20-year-old Rogers man bused from a special needs program disappeared last week. A search involved 17 Rogers officers, the Rogers Fire Department, Bentonville police and Benton County deputies, police said.

Rogers officers set up a command post at Fifth and Birch streets to coordinate the search, and called in members of the county’s Child Abduction Response Team. Team members come from 22 different agencies and include firefighters, law enforcement officers and child advocates.

Firefighters helped police drive a grid pattern through the neighborhood. Phone calls went out to the neighborhood through the A Child is Missing system. Two hours later, a Benton County deputy found the man a mile from where he was last seen.

The A Child is Missing system is a nonprofit organization that can place 1,000 calls in 60 seconds, according to the organization’s website. A recorded message details information about the missing child.

His disappearance was treated like that of a child because of his special needs, police said.

While child abduction is rare, a wandering child could be hurt or vulnerable. The Child Abduction Response Team works off a self-imposed deadline of three hours to find a child. Statistics show abducted children are injured or killed within three hours of being taken, said Wes Bryant, a Benton County detective and team coordinator. Team members specialize in different areas. Their assigned roles make for a quicker response, Bryant said.

The key is to respond quickly, set a perimeter, gather basic information and send out a description to other agencies, Bryant said.

Rogers officers get a description of the child to pass along to searchers then the child’s home is searched twice.

“Kids hide and lay down in crazy places,” Largent said.

He once found a diapered toddler walking down Arkansas Street. It didn’t take long to find the mother, but she did not realize the child was gone, Largent said.

Every missing child in a Bentonville report is treated as if it could be an abduction, said J.C. Wiseman, detective and Child Abduction Response Team leader. Shortly after a 2011 training session, a young boy with special needs went missing and the team was activated. An officer found him while canvassing in Rogers. The boy had simply wandered away from his Bentonville home.

Police say parents should not wait, but call authorities as soon as they think their child could be missing.

“The more time that goes by, the bigger area we have to search,” Wiseman said.

A full-scale response could include roadblocks as police check each car leaving the neighborhood for the missing child and ask neighbors what they might have seen, Wiseman said.

Calls for a missing child are not uncommon, but runaway teens are a more common problem.

Teenagers can start out angry and just want to get some space, but a naive teen on the street is vulnerable, said Natalie Tibbs, assistant director at the Children’s Advocacy Center and team leader with the Child Abduction Response Team.

“The idea of running away from our problems is easy,” Tibbs said. “How many of us considered running away?”

Springdale police used social media when a 12-year-old girl left home last week, said Lt. Derek Hudson, public information officer. A Facebook post about the missing girl got 2,000 shares and 100,000 views on Monday before the girl was found in Bentonville, according to a police posting. Springdale averages eight to 15 such cases a month, Hudson said. If there are leads, they follow them, but there is not always a lot of information.

“We have to have something to go on,” Hudson said.

Runaways may be with friends, but they can get into trouble or be taken advantage of, Largent said.

At A Glance

Missing Child

First steps if a child goes missing

Call police immediately to report the missing child.

• If the child is missing from the home, search places they can crawl or hide: closets, cabinets, piles of laundry, inside large appliances, under beds, cars.

If the child is missing in a store, notify the store manager and request a Code Adam where employees search the store and notify police.

• Call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

• Request law enforcement enter the child’s name and identifying information into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Missing Person File.

Source: National Center For Missing & Exploited Children

“They still need to be found,” Largent said.

Law enforcement officials have more search options when a teen is classified as an endangered runaway, Wiseman said. If the teen left with an older person, a sex offender or was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are considered endangered and he can request cellphone or social media records to track their whereabouts.

If a child or teenager is not found, they are reported to the FBI. When the Child Abduction Response Team was formed, members re-investigated the case of April Andrews. She went missing from Pea Ridge in November 2006 and would be 21 years old today. It is still worth looking, Bryant said.

“Someone knows what happened to her,” he said.

What To Tell Officers

Police need the name, date of birth, height, weight and a description of the missing person. Officers said they ask parents who a child’s friends are, where they like to play and favorite items they may have with them or be drawn to. A recent photo will help officers search for the person.

Source: Staff Report

It is not against the law for an adult to leave without notifying a spouse or friends and to be missing for a day or more, Largent said.

If a person has a mental state equivalent to a child or leaves in circumstances that are unusual, the Rogers department will actively search. A few weeks ago a Benton County helicopter was called in to search a wooded area after an older man left home.

Bella Vista puts on a full-scale search for both children and the elderly, said Lt. Barb Shrum of the Police Department. Curving roads and wooded areas can make searches challenging, but local officers can see a house in the distance, spread out a map and pinpoint the streets they need to take to get there.

People should not hesitate to call for law enforcement, Shrum said. If a child or wandering adult is located before police arrive they can always call back.

“We’re here anyway and we’ll come out and look,” she said.

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