NEWS RELEASE
Monday
September 29, 2008
|
Contact:
Communications Department
(703) 837-6111
media@ncmec.org
|
NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED
CHILDREN
OPENS
NEW OFFICE IN AUSTIN
Training Held for Texas Regional 1st Responders in Missing Child
Cases
Alexandria, VA – September 29, 2008 – The
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) announced today
that its new regional office in Austin, Texas has opened. The new office
will provide training for law enforcement and prosecutors with a particular
emphasis on Internet-related crimes against children. The office
will also work with and assist government and non-government organizations
in prevention and education programs to educate the community about child
safety. Case managers will also be located at the new office to assist
state and local law enforcement in the region with difficult missing children
cases.
The announcement coincided with a training program held for first responders
in the region. The program titled: Missing and Abducted Children
Response Initiatives for: Call-Takers, First Responders, Investigators and
First-Line Supervisors is designed to provide critical information to
those officers and investigators who will respond to a missing child report
whose knowledge, skill and ability may make the difference between a prompt
recovery and a protracted investigation. More than 100 law enforcement
from throughout Texas attended.
Austin businesswoman Diane Allbaugh is credited with leading the effort to
create a regional office in Texas. Believing that more needed to be
done to stop the growing incidence of Texas children being harmed by predators
she persuaded corporate leaders and others in Austin to commit to making the
local office a reality.
“Every year 800,000 children are reported missing including 60,000
from the state of Texas. We have long hoped to have an office in the
Southwest,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of NCMEC. “Diane’s
tireless efforts made the office a reality.”
The Texas regional office will have a small number of staff located in Austin
but will bring the full resources of NCMEC to the region. The office
in Austin will be fully funded by private donations, except for two case managers
which NCMEC will locate in the new Austin office. The commitments of
corporate leaders in the area made the office a reality, including a $1.5
million donation from BP of America, in addition to other major donations
from the American Bank of Commerce, T. Boone Pickens Foundation and Time Warner.
“Children are our most important resource.” said Diane Allbaugh. “The
people of Texas feel it is important to protect our children from being victimized
and want to do everything possible to keep our children safe.”
Why Texas?
- Of the nation’s more than 645,000 registered sex offenders, more
than 50,000 are in Texas, second only to California. One-fourth of the
registered sex offenders in the entire U.S. are in California and Texas.
- An estimated 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the U.S. During
2006, more than 60,000 children were reported missing in Texas.
- More than 58,000 children are abducted each year by non-family members. Texas
is second only to California in the incidence of non-family abduction
cases.
- In recent years Texas has experienced a series of tragic cases: Laura
Smither of Friendswood, Amber Hagerman of Arlington, and Ashley Estell
of Plano etc.
- Ten of the top 100 fastest growing counties in the U.S. and eight of the
largest counties in the nation are located in Texas.
- Texas is also a leading state for crimes against children and did not
have a NCMEC presence as do California, Florida and New York.
- NCMEC plays a leading role in international child abductions, the largest
of which involve Mexico. The 1,254 mile Mexican Border poses
a huge “flight” problem for law enforcement in the rescue of
children and the apprehension of criminals. Texas is the gateway to
Mexico, and to Central and South America.
- There is a strong demand for training from NCMEC that would be convenient
to law enforcement in Texas and others in the southwest.
Texas has special challenges because of its size and status as a border state. At
the same time, in the battle to protect children, its law enforcement agencies
have become national models, including the widely praised Dallas Police Department
Sex Offender Apprehension Program (SOAP), the Texas Missing Children’s
Clearinghouse, and others. The additional resources that NCMEC
will offer from an Austin office will aid and enhance the work that is currently
being done to target offenders and keep children safe.
The headquarters of NCMEC is located in Alexandria, VA. Regional offices
include Tustin, California; Lake Park, Florida; and Rochester, New York. Branch
offices are located in Naples, Florida; Kansas City, Kansas; Utica, New York;
and Columbia, South Carolina.
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
NCMEC is a 501© (3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established
by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national
missing children’s hotline, which has handled more than 2.3 million calls. It
has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 129,000 children. The
organization’s CyberTipline has handled more than 600,000 reports of child
sexual exploitation and it Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed
and analyzed close to 15 million child pornography images and videos. The
organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s
office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about
NCMEC, call its toll-free hotline at (800) THE-LOST or visits its website at www.missingkids.com.
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