CZECH REPUBLIC TO HELP MORE IN SEARCH FOR MISSING KIDS

CeskéNoviny.cz

3 April 2009

Czech Ministry to make search for Missing kids more effective


Prague - A new project of the Czech Interior Ministry is to get the public more involved in the search for missing children by sending their description in text messages to mobile phones, Interior Minister Ivan Langer (Civic Democrats, ODS) told reporters.


The project also reckons with the aid of police psychologists to the families of missing children as from May.
The National Coordination Mechanism project is to make the search for missing children faster and more efficient, Langer added.
The number of children who have been reported missing has been rising in the whole of the EU.
The Interior Ministry says the new mechanism should be applied to up to 20 cases of 7000-9000 cases that are annually reported missing in the Czech Republic.
As from May 25, a police patrol will decide whether the case of a missing child will be included in the new coordination mechanism.
The description of such a child will be immediately released on the police website and also to the media and mobile phone operators who will send an SMS to all mobile phones at the range of some five km from the place where the child got lost.
The ministry thereby expects people to actively participate in the search.
Moreover, the police will provide psychological aid to the families of missing children.
The project should apply mainly to children under 15 whose lives or health would be threatened. In exceptional cases, it may also concern youth aged 15-18 years, mainly the physically or mentally disabled.
On the contrary, the project will not apply to children who are running away from their homes repeatedly or who are searched for on suspicion of criminal activities.
The ministry is now negotiating about the project with the three major mobile phone operators in the Czech Republic.

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