Program helps locate the missing

• By JASON BROWN
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jul 8, 2009 - Page: 3BA

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LAFAYETTE — Law enforcement in communities across south Louisiana have enlisted the help of a program that can blanket an area with automated alerts when a person is reported missing.

Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said the program, called A Child is Missing, sends out automated messages to people in the area where the missing person was last seen.

“Within minutes of being notified that a child is missing, a law enforcement agency can make contact with this organization and within 60 seconds a thousand phone calls can be made,” Craft said.

ACIM utilizes a computerized mapping system that sends automated messages providing details about missing people, including what they were wearing, when they disappeared and where they were last seen.

Craft said the service can be used for any incident involving a missing person, from abductions and lost children to the mentally challenged and people afflicted with Alzheimer’s.

He said this program helps law enforcement during the critical first three hours of a missing-person case.

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,  nonprofit offers the service free to law enforcement nationwide.

Cpl. Paul Mouton, spokesman for the Lafayette Police Department, said the program for their department should be up and running within the next 30 days.

ACIM will complement existing law enforcement tools such as Amber Alert, which is geared toward statewide and national searches, Craft said.

“This is more of a local service,” he said. “You can notify the folks that a child is missing and within minutes, the area around that location will begin to receive phone calls.”

Scott Police Chief Chad Leger said the service also incorporates neighboring businesses.

“So, it does cover quite a bit and you can also broaden that grid and go into another 1,000 people if needed,” he said.

In a city like Scott, population 10,000, the service could quickly spread vital information to a large portion of the population in a relatively short span of time, Leger said.