By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

In the case of a missing person, every minute is critical.

Law enforcement agencies across the nation, including here in Maine,
are increasingly employing high tech search methods such as the A Child
Is Missing Alert Program (ACIM) to assist in safe and speedy recoveries.

“It’s essentially the equivalent of knocking on 1,000 doors every minute,” said ACIM Communications Director Todd DeAngelis.

    Founded in 1997 by Sherry Friedlander, the Fort
Lauderdale, Fla. based organization assists law enforcement agencies by
launching telephone alert messages to the surrounding community when a
child, elderly person, college student or disabled individual is
reported missing.

South Portland Police Department formalized an agreement with the
non-profit organization on Feb. 1, joining roughly 32 other Maine law
enforcement agencies that already use the free service, which is
supported by federal and state funding, donations and special events.

    On Feb. 4, the South Portland Police Department
activated the service after a 13-year-old boy was reported missing from
his home, said Officer Jeffrey Caldwell. The department called ACIM’s
toll-free number, provided pertinent information including a
description of the child and his last known whereabouts and the
organization issued more than 2,500 alerts to the surrounding area,
Detective Robert Scarpelli said. The child was found, unharmed, by a
relative around 7 p.m. and was brought home safely.

Before signing on with the organization, the department would send out
a local broadcast to the cruisers, put out a statewide Teletype and a
national inquiry and notify other law enforcement agencies. Scarpelli
said officers are now able to start an alert by calling ACIM’s
toll-free number on the scene of the initial report, rather than
funneling the information through central dispatch.

“It’s just another set of eyes and ears in the neighborhood or in the community,” Scarpelli said, of the ACIM service.

  ACIM uses satellite-mapping technology that allows the
organization’s employees to simply click and drag over a selected
geographic area to begin the alert process, DeAngelis said. With the
individual’s last known location, a database of phone numbers of the
residents and businesses in the area is created. The search parameters
are determined by several factors including time of day, the mobility
of the individual and weather conditions, he said. The search
parameters for a 12-year-old on a bicycle who has been missing for two
hours will differ from the parameters for an elderly person with a
walker who has been missing for 15 minutes, DeAngelis said.

  “We stick with it,” DeAngelis said of the search process. “We
call [the agency] up after the calls have been launched. As the case
continues we will monitor it and with the law enforcement agency,
determine if expanding the calls is appropriate.”

    ACIM often works in tandem with Amber Alert, the
emergency broadcast system for child abduction cases, DeAngelis said.

    “They can both be used simultaneously and one of the
advantages is as information is being gathered it may very well be that
[ACIM’s] alert calls can lead law enforcement to...significant
information to start Amber Alert,” he said.

    Cell phones and unlisted numbers are not included in
the organization’s database; however, an individual can add his or her
number by visiting AChildIsMissing.org. As long as the telephone number
is attached to a current address, ACIM will include the address in its
database.  

     The Kennebunk and Sanford police departments have
found ACIM isn’t just a useful tool for finding missing persons. In May
2005, when the department had to locate the parents of a 3-year-old
autistic boy who was found wandering around by himself, half-dressed,
they called ACIM, said lead dispatcher Dennis Vincent. The organization
dialed all of the telephones in a one-mile radius, Vincent said. The
child was reunited with his family within roughly two hours, he said.

    “It would have taken a lot longer,” Vincent said,
had the department not called ACIM. “We had officers out knocking on
every door in that neighborhood.”

    In the event of a major incident at Kennebunk
schools, ACIM will also send out alerts to notify parents where they
should pick up their children, Vincent said.

    Major Gordon Littlefield with the Sanford Police
Department said his agency has used ACIM with success several times
since formalizing an agreement three years ago. The department last
used the service in May 2007, when a small boy was found wandering the
streets wearing only a diaper.

    “He obviously didn’t have the communication skills
necessary for us to carry out a conversation,” Littlefield said.

    The child was reunited with his family in less than
an hour, Littlefield said. ACIM was also instrumental in locating an
elderly person who was reported missing, he said.

    Sanford could use ACIM to notify neighborhoods when
a sex offender moves to their area, however, the department prefers to
have officers notify residents by going door to door, Littlefield said.


    While law enforcement agencies are responsible for
calling ACIM if the individual or individuals have been found, officers
stress parents or guardians must notify their police department if they
hear from the missing individual.

“A lot of times parents will call and they’ll tell us their kids are
missing and won’t call us back when they return,” Scarpelli said. “We
have to tell the parents if they return or if they hear from them,
please call us.”

    For more information about the A Child is Missing Alert Program, visit www.achildismissing.org.