BonnerSprings.com

The Bonner Springs Police Department recently formalized an agreement with a communications network used to help find missing persons.

Under the agreement, upon receiving a missing-person call the department will call a toll-free number to the A Child Is Missing alert program. The call will be answered, day or night, by a technician who gathers information and maps an area in which the missing person could be.

Within minutes the system will then call as many as 1,000 listed numbers in those areas with a recorded alert message detailing the missing person’s description, last known whereabouts, and other pertinent information. The alert message will also include a Bonner Springs Police Department phone number for use by anyone with information relating to the missing person.

The program is a free service to law enforcement and may be used alone or in combination with Amber Alert.

The advantage of the program, said Bonner Springs Police Lt. Rick Schubert, is that it can be activated before the 24-hour period required to activate an official missing-person alert.

“We consider this an important and valuable tool that gives us a way to mass-contact the community when criteria for an Amber Alert wouldn’t let us,” Schubert said.

That can make a difference also when a child is missing and there’s no evidence he or she was abducted, Schubert said.

Telephone numbers that are called by ACIM include listed numbers in the selected area but do not include cell-phone numbers, unlisted numbers, or TDD/TTY devices. These numbers can be added to ensure they too are called in the event of an alert. To enter your unlisted number visit the ACIM Web site at achildismissing.org and click on “add your name.” The information will only be used for emergency message alerts.

To date the efforts of ACIM have been credited with aiding in more than 325 recoveries.

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