With thanks to
roisinRelaunch of missing child alertBROADCAST: NATIONAL WARNING SYSTEM ALLOWS POLICE TO INTERRUPT TV SHOWS
Leicester Mercury
by TERRY HALL
25 May 2010
A police warning system, which sparks a national alert if a child goes missing, was due to be relaunched today.
Under the system, TV and radio stations would be given information to broadcast as soon as a child goes missing.
Police would be able to interrupt programmes across Europe with information about the missing child and any suspected abductors.
The Child Rescue Alert - relaunched today to mark International Missing Children's Day - will make a continentwide appeal possible, if police believe the abducted child is likely to be taken overseas.
Leicestershire police became the fourth force in the country to introduce the Child Rescue Alert system in 2004, but not all constabularies followed suit.
The force said it had "come close" to using it twice, but never has.
Chief Superintendent Chris Rollings, of Leicestershire Police, said it was a vital weapon against child abduction.
He said: "Getting this information out within the first few hours is really important and gives us a greater chance of recovering the child.
"The decisions taken in the first few hours after a child's disappearance are often the most vital.
"It never really went away and we've had it in place since 2004, but not all forces did. It's been looked at nationally and we now have a system in place across all the forces."
Gerry and Kate McCann, from Rothley, have campaigned for such a system to be introduced nationwide since their daughter, Madeleine, disappeared in May 2007.
The couple's spokesman said: "In principle, such a system would mean if a child went missing in Portugal, every other country would know about it. In our case, the Spanish border was not informed for 12 hours."
Around 100,000 children are reported missing to the police each year but the system is expected to be used rarely.
Before an alert is released to the media, police must be satisfied that the following four criteria have been met: The case has sufficient descriptive details in the form of CCTV stills, or photographs of the victim or offender to justify launching the alert.
The person is under 18. Police feel that serious harm or death may occur.
The child has been abducted or kidnapped.
Chief Supt Rollings added: "If a child is abducted in Leicestershire, then we could decide to launch an alert. But we must have a good description and on top of that we have to look at each individual case."
The message will include a description of the child, location and nature of offences and description of the suspect and any vehicle they are using.
The system is being co-ordinated by the National Police Improvement Agency and any national abduction investigation will be led by Greater Manchester Police."The decisions taken in the first few hours after a child's disappearance are often the most vital." Chief Supt Chris Rollings
SUPPORT: Chief Supt Chris Rollings backs the scheme
CAMPAIGNERS: Gerry and Kate McCann during a visit to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children
