National Missing Child Day

[]

Today is National Missing Child Day. According to statistics from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) , approximately 725,000 juveniles or children are reported missing to the police each year. That’s more than two thousand children a day. Congress mandated the automatic NCIC entry and police report in every case of a missing child, with the National Child Search Assistance Act in 1990. Since 1990, NCIC missing persons reports have increased 27%.

According to the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Juvenile Justice Bulletin, June 2000;
· Based on the identity of the perpetrator, there are three distinct types of kidnapping: kidnapping by a relative of the victim or "family kidnapping" (49 percent), kidnapping by an acquaintance of the victim or "acquaintance kidnapping" (27 percent), and kidnapping by a stranger to the victim or "stranger kidnapping" (24 percent).
· Family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, involves a larger percentage of female perpetrators (43 percent) than other types of kidnapping offenses, occurs more frequently to children under 6, equally victimizes juveniles of both sexes, and most often originates in the home.
· Stranger kidnapping victimizes more females than males, occurs primarily at outdoor locations, victimizes both teenagers and school-age children, is associated with sexual assaults in the case of girl victims and robberies in the case of boy victims (although not exclusively so), and is the type of kidnapping most likely to involve the use of a firearm.

You can help find children and bring them home safe. Just be sure you do these simple things:

[] When the mailers come, LOOK at the picture, and really think about whether you might have seen the child.
[] When you visit WAL-MART or any store participating in a Child Search program, take the time to look at the pictures and think.
[] When an AMBER ALERT is broadcast, note the description and information
[] Contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, or Child Find of America, to learn more.



You can save a child's life.