A Multi-Agency Team Effort

Florida agencies collaborate to create ground-breaking
Child Abduction Response Teams

By Stephane Babcock

From the first moment a child is missing, there is the immediate fear that they will never be found. That fear is rooted in data from a study performed by the U.S. Department of Justice — 74 percent of all children who are abducted and later found murdered were killed within the first three hours of the kidnapping. For that reason and many others, Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) are used to mobilize state-wide efforts to quickly and successfully locate missing children.

A National Model
Beginning in the summer of 2004, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and its law enforcement partners in Orlando began to look at how they could improve Florida’s missing child response capabilities. Those discussions have spawned 13 CARTs within the state. This past January, the North Florida CART, which has been used as a national training model, was formally recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice as the first team in the country to earn national certification.

“I recognize it is our responsibility to ensure the state of Florida does everything possible to locate a missing child,” said Gov. Charlie Crist. “I am proud of the efforts of our law enforcement officers and other government officials that have enhanced Florida’s capacity to locate missing children by forming these critical teams.”

According to Heather Smith, director of external affairs for the FDLE, CART teams must meet rigorous performance standards in such areas as rapid activation and response, incident command structure, command post operations and leads tracking to earn certification. “The certification came following the North Florida team’s full-scale exercise in October of 2007 that was observed by assessors from Fox Valley Technical College. Fox Valley is contracted by the Justice Department to train and assess CART teams throughout the United States,” added Smith.

Collaboration OveRrides Territorialism
We’ve all watched the same scene in a million movies where the local sheriff fights for control over a case with state police or an FBI agent. Although this does realistically occur in some instances around the nation, Florida has worked to streamline and solidify cooperation from the number of federal, state and local agencies involved in child abduction investigations.

“When a missing child call comes in, they hit the ground running. We know what agency brings the command post, who is coordinating the ground search, where the tracking dogs are coming from, who is supervising the hot line, coordinating the volunteers and manning the leads hot line,” said Smith. “The goal is to be in sync before we even arrive on scene.”

The teams can include representatives from the state attorney’s office, Department of Children and Families, Florida Highway Patrol, attorney general, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Department of Corrections, missing children state clearinghouses, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and even school districts.

“Schools can be an excellent source of information regarding the missing child and activities that occurred leading up to the child’s disappearance and family information. Schools also can provide after-hour contact information for parents and students,” said Smith.

Success Stories
The unified efforts of Florida’s CARTs have led to the location of both missing and abducted children, and even arrests in some cases. In February 2006, after finishing a two-and-a-half day training session, the North Florida Child Abduction Response Team learned that a 15-year-old Hamilton County girl had been reported missing under suspicious circumstances. Team members were rapidly deployed to assist the Lafayette County and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Offices. Fortunately, the girl, who had run away from home, was located unharmed the next day and returned to her family.

According to Orlando Special Agent in Charge Joyce Dawley, CARTs enable law enforcement to “spend time looking for the child, not looking for the resources.”
In another instance, Georgia authorities activated their version of the Amber alert, known as Levi’s Call, and assisted a team from Florida in the search for a missing child. Through inter-agency investigative efforts and tips called in as a result of the alert, the child was rescued and the abductor arrested.

“Effectively mobilizing the many agencies involved with the CART immediately following an abduction relies on this cooperative effort,” concluded Gov. Crist. “When seconds count, the CART structure helps quickly place responsibilities where resources can be utilized most efficiently to bring a child home.” n

To read more about the North Florida team’s full-scale exercise from October 2007, visit www.stnonline.com/go/50.