Investigating Missing Children Cases : A Guide for First Responders and Investigators

311 Pages·2012·1.57 MB·English

by  Sprague

FORENSICS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Investigating
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Investigating g
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Missing Children
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A Guide for First Responders and Investigators
I A Guide for First Responders and Investigators
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Time is an abducted child’s worst enemy. Seventy-four percent of abducted children who
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are murdered are killed within three hours of their abduction. It takes, on the average,
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two hours for a parent to report a child missing. This gives responders only one hour to s
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get an investigation up and running in an attempt to locate and recover the child alive.
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Investigating Missing Children Cases: A Guide for First Responders and Investigators provides
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a solid training guide on missing children investigative techniques, enabling law enforcement
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professionals to respond confidently with a plan of action that offers the best possible chance n
for a positive outcome. g

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The book provides law enforcement agencies with the most current information available to
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guide them through a missing or runaway child dispatch. It is designed to help investigators s
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respond quickly, expeditiously evaluate the situation, conduct an Endangerment Risk
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Assessment (ERA) of the child, and commence a thorough, organized investigation—starting
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from the moment the police are contacted. By following the guidelines in this book, those
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tasked with these cases can make the best possible decisions in the shortest amount of time.
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The protocols and methodologies presented are based on personal police experience and l
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statistical evidence from research and studies gathered from thousands of runaway and missing r
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children cases. Details on those studies and their findings are provided in the appendix.
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Time is of the essence in missing children cases. Make every second count. C
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K12784
Donald F. Sprague
6000 Broken Sound Parkway, NW
Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487
711 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
an informa business
2 Park Square, Milton Park
www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN, UK www.crcpress.com
K12784_cover.indd 1 8/3/12 10:02 AM

Investigating
Missing Children
Cases
A Guide for First Responders and Investigators

Investigating
Missing Children
Cases
A Guide for First Responders and Investigators
Donald F. Sprague
Boca Raton London New York
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
No claim to original U.S. Government works
Version Date: 20120815
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4398-6064-9 (eBook - PDF)
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Dedication
To every first responder and investigator who may
respond to or investigate a missing child case.
To my wife, Mary Anne, who stood behind me to complete
this book and for her assistance in authoring it.
To every missing child, every parent or family of a missing child, and
any community that has experienced a missing child situation.
To every missing child who has not been recovered, and to
those parents who suffer the anguish that only a few know.
To every private or public organization that educates children and
parents in the prevention of child abduction or exploitation.

Contents
Preface xv
Disclaimer xiii
About the Author xix
1 Introduction and Background 1
Missing Children Cases: The Seen and the Unseen 1
Law Enforcement Attitude and Missing Children 4
Society, Social Problems, Missing Children, and Law Enforcement 6
How Will This Book Assist You? 7
Caution Regarding Liability and Policy 7
A Call to Action—Proactive versus Reactive Response 8
Summary Check for Risk Management 10
2 The Problem 11
Is It Perception or Is It Misperception? 11
Criticisms of Law Enforcement’s Actions 13
Training 14
Give Them a Break 16
3 The Victim and the Offender 19
The Victim 19
Developmental Perspective Theory 20
Parents, Family Members, Friends, and Communities as Victims 22
Types of Family Reactions to Missing Children or Abductions 23
The Liaison 24
The Community 25
The Offender 26
4 Federal and State Statutes: Runaway and Missing
Children 29
Know the Law 29
Federal Statutes 29
Federal Criminal and Civil Laws Regarding Missing and
Abducted Children 32
State Statutes 36
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viii Contents
5 Missing Children Abduction Motives, Lures,
and Tactics 37
Motives for Abducting Children 37
Child Abductor Lures 38
Child Abductor Tactics 41
6 Response and Initial Interview 43
Response 43
Initial Interview 45
7 Missing Children Crime Scenes and
Neighborhood Canvass 51
The Importance of Immediately Identifying Crime Scenes of
Missing Children 55
Neighborhood Canvassing and Searching 56
8 Missing Children Endangerment Risk
Assessment (ERA) 61
9 Getting the Information Out 63
Overview of Law Enforcement Communications Systems and
Missing Children 65
10 Incident Command Center and Civilian Volunteers 73
Incident Command Center 73
Civilian Volunteers 75
11 Long-Term and Cold Cases 81
12 Reunification 83
Team Approach 83
The Response 85
13 False Police Reports 87
14 Runaways and Thrownaways 91
First Responder/Investigator: Runaways (RAs)/Thrownaways
(TAs) 91