"Code Adam" helps find lost children and prevent abductions
For more information about Code Adam
Westchester County in cooperation with New York
State Attorney General's Office uses a nationally recognized
child-finding system called Code Adam in its parks and some public
buildings.
Code Adam was created and promoted by the Wal-Mart® retail stores. It
is named in memory of 6-year-old Adam Walsh whose 1981 abduction from
a Florida shopping mall and subsequent murder brought child abduction
to national attention.
The program provides a series of steps that can be taken to most
effectively search for lost children and thwart abductions. It is
being actively promoted by the Office of the New York State Attorney
General and is endorsed by the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.
“We can’t be vigilant enough. We can’t do enough to protect our
children,’’ said County Executive Andy Spano last summer when
Westchester became the first county in the state to use Code Adam.
“When a child is reported missing, we want to make sure that our
employees know exactly what to do, and that no time is wasted. Code
Adam has helped to find hundreds of children and we thank Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer for helping us to become the first county
government in the state to use this program.’’
Westchester Parks and Public Works employees were trained by staff
from the Attorney General's office to use the child finding procedure.
The county’s parks system has an average of 3.5 million visitors a
year, about half are children. In 2005, there were 21 children
reported missing in county parks. All of them were quickly found
unharmed.
Created in 1994, Code Adam has been used widely by department stores
and retail establishments. The Attorney General’s Office working with
the New York Branch of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children has adapted it for use in public facilities. The AGs training
program also provides an overview of the types of offenders who might
abduct a child as well as ways to prevent abductions.
Code Adam was credited with preventing the abduction of a 3-month-old
child at a WalMart in Fishkill, N.Y. The child was snatched but left
by the would-be abductor after the alert went out to employees.
Under the Code Adam protocol when a child is reported missing, trained
staff would use a checklist to interview the adult caretaker, asking
specific questions about physical description, clothing and other
relevant information. An alert would then go out to employees who
would be assigned specific locations to search. When possible,
secondary exits would be blocked with the child’s caretaker stationed
at the main exit to help spot the child. At the same time, police are
notified. If the child is not found within 5-10 minutes police are
called in to investigate.
Speed is essential for the safe recovery of a missing child. Research
shows that nearly 40 percent of children abducted by a stranger are
murdered and, of those, 74 percent are murdered within three hours.
Edward Suk, executive director of the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children/NY Branch, commended the county and the Attorney
General’s Office for expanding the program for use in government.
“This is an excellent example of how procedures originally developed
for retail establishments can be successfully implemented in other
public venues. Collaborative efforts between the Attorney General's
office and local officials send a strong message of dedication to
keeping children safe throughout the community."
For more information on Code Adam, visit www.oag.state.ny.us/or
http://www.missingkids.com.
10-27-2004 |
