New Child Abduction Law Enforcment Updated (2)

Presented by Serving Children and Reaching Families

1/23/2019

Sponsored by State of Florida Department of Juvenile Justice 1

Child Abduction/Law Enforcement OfficersBUILDING COLLABORATION WITH OTHER COMMUNITY AGENCIES

1/23/2019

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Child Abduction Statistics

Every 40 seconds, a child becomes

missing or abducted.

Family child abduction is the

most common form of abduction in the

United States.

Almost half of child abductions are

kidnappings by a parent or other family relative.

More than 25 percent of child

abductions are by an acquaintance of

the child.

Less than one quarter of child

abductions are by a stranger, with more

girls being abducted than boys.

Approximately 80 percent of child abductions by strangers occur

within 1/4 of a mile of the child's home.

Roughly 75 percent of abduction

murders occur within 3 hours after the

child goes missing.

The overwhelming majority of non-family child abductions (80

percent) are motivated by sexual intentions.

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More and more children are going missing.

-FBI statistics show fewermissing persons of all ages is down 31% between 1991-2011.

-Why fewer? Cell phones and Amber alerts discourage crimes and resolve disappearances quickly.



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4 False Myths about Child Abduction

Most children are abducted by strangers.

01More and more children go missing everyday.

02The internet has made child abduction easier.

03Prevention starts with teaching children to avoid strangers.

04


Most children are

abducted by strangers

Children taken by strangers or slight acquaintances represent only one-hundredth of 1 percent of all missing children.

The last comprehensive study estimated that the number was 115 in a year.

More common are runaways who, have gotten lost or injured, have been taken by a family member or simply aren’t where they’re expected to be.

While abduction and homicide are truly horrible, the costs of more common missing-children cases shouldn’t be underestimated. Those cases, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, occupy vast amounts of police time and leave lasting scars on their victims as well.


More and more

children go missing

everyday

Many state missing-children agencies show declining numbers of cases.

Cellphones allow children to summon help and get out of threatening situations.

Over the past decades, we have become more aggressive about finding, prosecuting, incarcerating, supervising, treating and deterring sex offenders.

Prevention programs and response systems, such as Amber Alert, that both discourage crime and resolve disappearances quickly.



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The internet has made

child abduction

easier

The internet has changed the way young people take risks: They do it more often at home.

Young people these days socialize and experiment online.

Although they can meet people with bad intentions, the physical distance means that more time and thinking elapse between an encounter and a crime.


Prevention starts with teaching

children to avoid

strangers

Children are vastly more likely to come to harm and even abducted by people they know than by people they don’t know.

We should teach children the signs of people (strangers or not) who are behaving badly: touching them inappropriately, being overly personal, trying to get them alone, acting drunk, provoking others or recklessly wielding weapons.

We need to help children practice refusal skills, disengagement skills and how to summon help.


Trauma/Victim Assessment Tool

Children living through abuse, violence and other traumatic events may unnecessarily suffer the ill effects for the rest of their lives. These life-altering events are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

ACE’s Adverse Childhood Experiences

Research about the lifelong impact of ACEs underscores the urgency of prevention activities to protect children from these and other early traumas.When children do experience trauma, understanding the impact of ACEs can lead to more trauma-informed interventions that help to lessen negative outcomes. Many communities are now exploring how reducing ACEs can help prevent child maltreatment, and help gain healthier results for children and families.



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How child abduction may impact the victim.

• The child may have a changed identity or a new name. • The child may go from a single-child family to a new, larger family. • The child’s school, or grade level may have changed. • The abducting parent and searching parent may have different rules, expectations, and ways of parenting. • The returning child could have a new living environment. • The abduction can be an ongoing experience that changes the child’s whole life. • The abduction is about the child and the experience.


How child abduction may impact the victim.

• There may be developmental issues unique to abducted children. • The child may have been forced to grow up before his/her time. • The child may have missed out on birthdays, holidays, and school promotions. • The child may feel like he's starting over. • There is no continuum—the child may have been forced to assume a new identity. • The child may be behind emotionally and educationally. • The child may operate in survival mode. • The child may lose his childhood. • Abnormal things may have become normalized.


Why victims refuse help

A child’s relationship with the abductor does not disappear. There has been a bond even if it is dysfunctional, which must be considered.

There may be circumstances where it is beneficial for the child to have some contact with the abducting parent. However, it's important to recognize that the child will have his own feelings about the abductor, which may be not be negative.

Talking poorly about the abductor may remind the child of the abductor’s actions and may make the reunion more difficult.



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Preventative Measures

Sex Offenders RegistrationThe 1994 Jacob Wetterling Act requires the States to register individuals convicted of sex crimes against children. Community NotificationsMegan’s Law allows the States discretion to establish criteria for disclosure, but compels them to make private and personal information on registered sex offenders available to the public.


Prevention lies in teaching children to avoid strangers. “Never talk to strangers”, “Stranger Danger”.

Everyone is a stranger at first. We should teach signs of people who are behaving badly, such as:

-Touching inappropriately

-Trying to get you alone

-Acting drunk

-Provoking others

-Acting reckless with weapons

Instead let's teach practices like: refusal skills, disengagement skills, and how to summon help.


How has Law Enforcement failed?

In a National survey, about half of the 17,000 responding offices said they always refuse to take a missing-child report if the abductor is a parent, instead viewing it as a private family

issue or a matter for family court.



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What steps can Law Enforcement take to prevent child abductions?

Prevention Policies

Understanding Warning Signs


Law Enforcement can use Prevention Policies to help find children quickly.

3 strike laws Speedy response Communications Systems

Search Protocols Amber Alert


Understand warning signs of family abductions

1

Has a criminal record.

2

Has a history of marital instability, lack of cooperation with the other parent, domestic violence, or child abuse.

3

Has previously abducted or threatened to abduct a child.

4

Has strong ties to a different state, or country than those to where he currently lives.

5

Unemployed, can work anywhere, or is financially independent.

6

New passports or visas.



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Attempted Abduction and Related Incidents

10 year Analysis-School was one of the biggest factors in the timing of when these incidents occurred. -70% occurred on school days.

Trends that were found:Attempted abductions occur more often when a

child is going to or from school. Younger children were more likely to be walking

alone or with a peer to/from school, their bus stop or residence on school days and to other places on non-school days.

Force was most commonly used against younger children and oldest children.

Verbal ploys were used towards elementary and middle school children.

Children who got away either ignored, refuses them, used their cell phones, fought, screamed, another child or adult interved, or the child was able to leave the area.


National study in the US and The UK National Crime Agency Command looked at info given to Children on how to avoid abduction by strangers.The study shows whether simple “Stranger Danger message works”. -Children don’t always understand the different between strangers and non strangers especially when it comes to social media. -Children with no safety training will usually go to a stranger with a lure.-Lack of resources often mean no training.-Schools often don’t want anti-abduction training to be unnecessarily frightening.The difficult distinction is between well-meaning adults and adults with abusive intent.


Important Tools for Collaboration Within The Community

AMBER ALERT ENHANCING AND ENDANGERED ADVISORY (EMA)



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Amber Alert

The AMBER Alert Program began in

1997. During the first 6 years of the program, the alert saved a total

of 31 children.

AMBER Alerts are not issued for individuals who do not meet the

criteria.

In these cases agencies might

consider developing or enhancing an

Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA).

The Amber Alert and EMA provides a strategy for law

enforcement to notify the public and save

lives.


Florida

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Enhancing an Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA).

Review Review activations.

Provide Provide confidential phone and fax lines and e-mail addresses.

Determine Determine media responsibilities.

Prepare Prepare for media reaction.

Prepare Prepare for community reaction and response.

Notify Notify NCMEC.

Notify Notify law enforcement personnel.

Establish Establish phone banks.



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Important Community Agencies

Local Law Enforcement

Agencies

Child abduction Response Team

(CART)

National Center for Missing and

Exploited Children (NCMEC)

The Missing Endangered

Persons Information Clearinghouse

(MEPIC) Part of the AMBER PLAN.


Collaboration: Parents

Officers should never assume the child is a runaway; this assumption can hinder the immediate implementation of a plan to find the missing child.

Law enforcement could benefit from training on how to question parents in a way that allows them to gather information while being sensitive to what the parents are going through.

Law enforcement needs to understand compliant behavior and the dynamics of “learned helplessness”.


Collaboration: Stakeholders and Partners

Identifying key stakeholders and partners who will play a primary role in the dissemination of an alert is central to an effective AMBER Alert system.

Representatives from law enforcement, the media, and departments of transportation are the most important AMBER Alerts stakeholders.

Emergency 911 centers, Attorney Generals’ offices, emergency management personnel, and community-based organizations, also play an important role in the dissemination of information to the public.



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Collaboration: The Media

The media can be a vital ally in the search for a missing child.

Broadcasters who enter into agreement with law enforcement agencies to provide immediate response during AMBER Alerts should be assured that their partner agencies will fulfill all of their responsibilities in accordance with the activation plan.


Works Cited

“Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).” ChildWelfare, https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/preventionmonth/resources/ac e/.

“AMBER Alerts.” FDLE, http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MCICSearch/Amber.asp.

“AMBER Plan Frequently Asked Questions.” FDLE, http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/AMBER-Plan/FAQ-s.

“Family Abduction.” NCMEC, http://www.missingkids.com/theissues/familyabduction.

Finkelhor, David. “Five myths about missing children.” Washington Post, 10 May 2013.

“Infant Abductions.” NCMEC, http://www.missingkids.com/theissues/infantabductions.

Newiss, Geoff. Beyond ‘stranger danger’: Teaching children about staying safe from stranger child abduction. Parents and Abducted Children Together, 2014.


Works Cited

Polly Klaas Foundation. Polly Klaas Foundation, http://www.pollyklaas.org/about/pollys-story.html?gclid=.

Robinson, Bryan. “Survey: Parents Not Prepared for Child Abduction.” ABC News, 23 May 2001.

Schweit, Katherine W., and Ashley M. Mancik. “School Resource Officers and Violence Prevention: Best Practices (Part One).” LEB, 11 April 2017, https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/school- resource-

officers-and-violence-prevention-best-practices-part-one.

“Statistics from the National Center for Victems of Crime”, Child Watch North America, 2019.

http://www.childwatch.org/statisticsandinformation.html

Stoever, Jane K. “Most kidnapped children are taken by a parent. That doesn’t mean they’re safe.” The Washington Post, 21 July 2017.

United States, Department of Justice. Guide for Implementing or Enhancing an Endangered Missing Advisory. March 2011.

United States, Department of Justice. The Crime of Family Abduction: A Child’s and Parent’s Perspective. 1st ed., 2010.



1/23/2019


Child Abduction/Law Enforcement OfficersBUILDING COLLABORATION WITH OTHER COMMUNITY AGENCIES

1/23/2019

Presented by SCA

RF-Sponsored by DJJ

Documents

New Child Abduction Law Enforcment Updated (2)