COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio law enforcement officials revamped the state’s approach for responding to reports of child abduction.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine joined other law enforcement officials, including Powell Police Chief Gary Vest, Auglaize County Sheriff Allen Solomon, and Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Tony Bradshaw, Wednesday to announce a new Child Abduction Response Team model.
The CART team is activated during an Amber Alert or other case when a child goes missing and law enforcement determines there is immediate danger.
The new model involves a coordinator who would compile local resources, including investigators, search and rescue personnel, equipment and victim advocates and assist an incident commander who would be in charge of the search and the investigation of any criminal case, according to a release from DeWine’s office.
Local police chiefs and sheriffs request CART activations following a suggested guideline that includes a missing, high-risk, endangered or abducted child under age 18.
CART teams, which usually include law enforcement personnel from different agencies, have existed throughout Ohio since 2006. There were 48 Amber Alerts in Ohio during the five years between Jan. 2009 and Dec. 2013.
The structure of the team the past eight years has involved a specific list of individuals performing specific jobs — investigators, intelligence personnel, search and rescue personnel, water and air search and rescue personnel, search dogs, victim advocates – but, as team members retired or moved to other jobs, some response teams ceased to exist.
A CART steering committee, consisting of representatives of the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, met for 21 months to determine the new model.
DeWine’s office sent a letter and packet of information to every law enforcement agency in Ohio explaining the new model and inviting them to attend one of 10 training sessions in Columbus, St. Clairsville, Portsmouth, Piqua, Mansfield, Bowling Green, West Chester, Warren, Athens, and Richfield in January and February.