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Number of
Children
Fingerprinted:
749
Number of Child
Identity Kits
Given Out:
1400
United IPS is pleased to
offer the following information on safe keeping and
protecting your children. We realized that
sometimes, it is not possible to do everything we
list here. We want you to have every possible tool
and you should of course use your best judgment
along with the recommendations from the experts that
we quote.
The loss of a child is very
traumatic event for parents (and for the children as
well.) It is the very reason that we strongly urge
you as the parents to utilize a child identity kit
and to follow as many suggestions listed below as
possible. Too often, when a traumatic event occurs,
parents sometimes may not have the same perspective
as the investigators who will attempt to recover
that child. The first step is documenting your
children with some form of identity kit before any
event occurs so that the investigators will have a
strong search baseline.
The
FBI
The kit that we have been
providing corresponds to the recommendations by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency which is
responsible for investigating child disappearances.
In 1932, Congress gave the
FBI jurisdiction under the “Lindbergh Law” to
immediately investigate any reported mysterious
disappearance or kidnapping involving a child of
“tender age”—usually 12 or younger. And just to be
clear, before the FBI gets involved there does NOT
have to be a ransom demand and the child does NOT
have to cross state lines or be missing for 24
hours. You may want to read what the FBI has to say
about what they will do upon notification of a
missing child;
just select this link.
What United IPS Is Doing
United IPS, along with its
partners, Lee County Sheriffs' Department, Island
Construction, Publix, and Big Lots have partnered in
the recent past to provide identity kits and
fingerprinting, without charge and without any
obligation from the parents or children. Our kit,
select this link for a pop up
view of our kit, contains all of the
elements as recommended by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation for an identity kit. Space is provided
to capture details about the child's physical
characteristics including capturing all digits of
both hands with prints, a dental layout for the
child's dentist to complete, basic medical data
(blood type, etc.), front and rear view images to
identify birth marks and other related but notable
physical blemishes, and a place to attach hair for
DNA analysis.
Background Information
According to the Department of
Justice, almost 800,000 children are reported
missing to law enforcement each year, while another
500,000 children go missing without being reported
to authorities. More specifically, the White House
reports the following statistics:
Child Abduction
Each year, more than 58,000
U.S. children are abducted by non-family members,
often in connection with another crime. More than
200,000 children are abducted by family members who
are seeking to interfere with a parent’s custodial
or visitation rights. Although the vast majority of
children (at least 98%) return from abductions, too
many children do not. While there are only around
100 reported cases each year of the most dangerous
type of abduction – stranger kidnapping – fully 40%
of these children are murdered.
Runaways
There are approximately 1.3
million young Americans on the street every day as a
result of running away and/or homelessness. One in
seven children between the ages of 10 - 18 will run
away. Some will return within a few days, while
others remain on the streets and never return.
Assaults, illness or suicide will take the lives of
5,000 runaway youth each year. The National Runaway
Switchboard (1-800-621-4000), funded in part through
the Department of Health and Human Services, handles
more than 100,000 phone calls each year.
Cyber Predators
Nearly 30 million children and
youth go online to research homework assignments and
to learn about the world they live in. Research by
the University of New Hampshire found that one in
five children between the ages of 10 and 17 received
a sexual solicitation over the Internet in the last
year. One in thirty-three received an aggressive
solicitation - a solicitor who asked to meet them
somewhere; called them on the telephone; or sent
them regular mail, money, or gifts. [For more
information, please see visit the
White House site.]
Who Can Help
The National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children (NCMEC) encourages parents and
guardians to take a proactive role in the safety of
their children and offers some helpful tips,
including:
What to Do Before
Understand potential risks before
placing birth announcement in the local newspaper or
online.
Birth announcements should never include the
family’s home address and should be limited to the
parents surnames
-
Have a recent color photograph of your
child (and fill out the child
identity kit now!) For infants, a full, front-face view is
recommended along with footprints and a written
description of the infant noting hair, eye color,
length, weight, date of birth, and any unique
physical characteristics. Remember that a child's
physical characteristics changes every year
until late teens; facial aspects, overall weight
and size, and yes finger prints are constantly
evolving as the body develops from child to
adult. Update your child identity kits every
year.
-
Consider having a DNA sample taken
from your child; at the minimum, take four or five
hairs with the roots attached, and put them in a
paper envelopment and staple to your child
identity kit.
-
Choose babysitters with care by
obtaining references, checking in unexpectedly
during a session and noting any changes in your
child’s mood or behavior
-
As children mature and become verbal:
ensure they know their full name,
address and phone number; teach them how and when to call 911;
require that they ask permission before
leaving home.
-
Monitor
your children's activities on the internet: direct your children to the right sites
and off bad sites.
Select well known helpful sites such as
NetSmartzKids.org
What to Do in the Event of
a Missing Child
ACT
IMMEDIATELY if you believe that your child is
missing.
-
· If your
child is missing from home, search the house
checking closets, piles of laundry, in and under
beds, inside large appliances, and inside vehicles,
including trunks—wherever a child may crawl or hide.
-
· If you
still cannot find your child, immediately call your
local law enforcement agency. Retrieve the
appropriate child identity kit and have it ready for
the local law enforcement representative.
-
· If your
child disappears in a store, notify the store
manager or security office. Then immediately call
your local law-enforcement agency. Many stores have
a Code Adam plan of action— if a child is missing in
the store, employees immediately mobilize to look
for the missing child.
-
· When you
call law enforcement, provide your child's name,
date of birth, height, weight, and any other unique
identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces. Tell them
when you noticed that your child was missing and
what clothing he or she was wearing. Tell them you
have a full child identity kit and that an officer
should come by and pickup it up so it can be immediately entered into the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person File.
-
· After
you have reported your child missing to law
enforcement, call the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children on this toll-free telephone
number: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
PrinTo
print a copy of these recommendations, click this
link and select print from the File command.
Key Telephone Numbers:
FBI Office in SW Florida: 1-813-253-1000
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678
National Runaway Switchboard 1-800-621-4000
L Local Law
Enforcement 911
About the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children
NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization dedicated to helping protect children
from abduction and sexual exploitation. NCMEC’s
congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting
mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled
more than 500,000 leads. Since its establishment in
1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more
than 133,000 missing child cases, resulting in the
recovery of more than 115,700 children. For more
information about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour
hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit
www.missingkids.com.
About United Investigation &
Protective Services
United IPS is a full service,
private investigative agency with headquarters in
Cape Coral, Florida. United IPS provides services
extensively throughout Florida and across the USA.
Our private investigators have compiled many years
of investigative experience at Federal and State
levels and within the private sector. Fully
licensed and insured with a bi-lingual staff, United
IPS utilizes up-to-date surveillance techniques and
equipment to deliver results. All investigations are
conducted in a strictly professional manner with
complete confidentiality and integrity. United IPS
can be reached at
2323
Del Prado Blvd
Suite
7-360
Cape
Coral, Florida 33990
Toll
Free: 888-411-1131
FAX: 941-876-0590
Email
:
Contact@Unitedips.com
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