Child Abduction Response Team

(CART)

Why Have a Pre-Planned Response?

Facts and Figures

58,200 children are victims of non-family abductions each year

100 – 200 of those victims are stereotypical kidnappings

Approximately ½ of these victims are sexually assaulted during the commission of the crime

Statistics from NISMART II

When a Child is Killed

49% are murdered in less than 1 hour 74% are murdered within 3 hours 91% are murdered within 24 days 99% are murdered within 7 days

Statistics from the Washington State Attorney General’s Report on Missing Child Homicides

It is likely that the classic non-family abduction will require a

multi-agency response

Child Abduction Response Team

A formalized multi-agency response to abducted, missing and endangered children

What is the Purpose of CART?

To establish a multi-agency child abduction team that will respond to abducted, missing and endangered child cases

in a timely and efficient manner

Inter-Agency Approach

Shared financial and personnel resources Provides expert resources to augment organized

investigative efforts Assures the victim family and community that all

resources are utilized for the successful recovery of the child

Policy Issues to be Addressed

Liability CART resources and

use of equipment Mutual Aid/concurrent

jurisdiction Officer injury Use of force/litigation Pursuits

Overtime Command structure Briefing of agency

heads/confidentiality Media releases CART deployment length

of time resources are made available

Policy Issues

Once policy issues are resolved then they need to be documented

Tools for solidifying documentation include: Memorandums of Understanding Protocols SOPs/Department Directives or General Orders Letters of Agreement

Team ResponsibilitiesPhase I

Develop a response plan Response criteria Incident command structure Lead agency designation/CART Coordinator Assignments

Team ResponsibilitiesPhase II

Develop a best practice policy regarding missing / abducted children for recommendation to member agencies

Other Responsibilities Seek training for team members Develop exercises for team training and testing Respond to missing and abducted child cases as set

forth by the response plan Develop an after-action report on full scale responses

to be presented to the agency heads of the member agencies

Responsibilities (cont.)

Develop and maintain a response manual for use by investigative members of the team

Develop and maintain a resource manual to ensure immediate availability of resources

Proven Model

Training programs from January 2006 through July 2014 yielded the following: 3792 team members trained representing 45

states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Canada

102 Operationally Ready teams CART deployment has proven successful in the safe

recovery of children CART model recipient of 2005 IACP Choice Point

Award

IACP Choice Point Award “One of the greatest challenges law

enforcement faces is responding to the report of a missing child. But the activation of available officers, coordination across multiple jurisdictions, and securing of necessary expertise can often eclipse the assets of any one department,” said then IACP President Joe Estey, chief of the White River Junction, VT, Police Department.

How Do We Bring CART To Our Community

Leadership: Ensure Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Commitment

Establish a Steering/Oversight Committee Meet regularly until the Team is established Designate a Team Leader who will work diligently

to see the process through Support the efforts of Team Members

Advice From Successful CART Programs

Be flexible Choose motivated and committed people Do not give up working on your plan Do not reinvent the wheel Check your ego at the door Do not put all your eggs in one basket Educate

Lessons Learned

Keep the focus on finding the child Have a plan and use the plan Realize it is a work in progress Do not delay in deploying your team

Contact Information

AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program

A U.S. D.O.J. Initiative

Fox Valley Technical College

Phone: (877) 71-AMBEREmail: askamber@fvtc.edu

www.amber-net.org