Press Release from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children announced it has been named a first runner-up in the Non-Profit category of the 2005 Cisco Growing with Technology Awards, an event designed to recognize

small- to medium-sized organizations

that demonstrate how networking technology solutions can effectively address business challenges. To learn more please click on the link below or visit www.missingkids.com. Thank you.

Are you joking? Small to Medium size organizations? The NCMEC recieves 25-30 million per year from the US Dept. of Justice plus millions more from corporations. They are one of the largest charities in the US. Cisco even considering them for a reward that is supposed to be for small to medium sized organizations is a slap in the face to organizations that have to struggle for their funding and still do a better job of finding missing children than the NCMEC. It makes a travesty of the award itself. But since the NCMEC regularly intercepts ideas and funding that would otherwise be destined for smaller charities, it doesn’t surpise me.

by Chris McElroy, President, Kidsearch Network

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[NCMEC Cisco Award]

Parents Read This Story!

Photographer Ben Fawley A Suspect Again in Taylor Behl case

I do not think many people gave it much credence when police and authorities originally claimed that Ben Fawley was not a “person of interest” in the Taylor Marie Behl disappearance. Police state that clues that lead to the discovery of Taylor Behl’s body came from pictures that were on Ben Fawley’s web site.

Police found the body of Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Marie Behl, 17, after examining photographs on the Web site of an amateur photographer who was one of the last people to see Behl alive.

“I don’t think that I would be too far off base to say that he is a suspect in this case,” Richmond police chief Rodney Monroe said Friday on CBS News’ The Early Show. However, Ben Fawley has still not been charged in the Behl case but is being held on other non-related charges.

Photo led police to student’s body

Police found the critical photo that led them to Behl’s remains on one of Fawley’s Web sites, where he had posted a gallery of his digital snapshots.

Internet Central In Behl Case

The Early Show correspondent Tracy Smith reports that the two met through Web sites where people post photos and messages. Taylor shared intimate details of her life on these sites, Smith reports. “There seems to be a lot of information on here that someone who didn’t know her would have a pretty good idea who she is and what she’s all about,” one computer expert told Smith.

While the Internet can put young people like Behl at risk, Smith reports, experts also say it can provide clues when they go missing. “It really can offer nearly a complete profile of the individual,” one expert told Smith. “Who they spoke to, when and where they expect to go, where they’ve been in their past.” On Taylor’s Web site, there are numerous messages from Fawley, who took and posted pictures of Taylor on the Internet.

That website they mentioned is MYSPACE.com! Teenagers there are posting that there age is 20-24 years old, they are posting pictures there, information about themselves, where they go to school, where they live, etc. etc. If a pedophile wants to abduct one of them, he can get all the info he needs, then go to where the child lives or hangs out according to the information they post there, and even start talking to them by name to put them off guard long enough to lure them somewhere or get close enough to snatch them.

It is a virtual shopping mall for sexual predators. If your children or teenagers post at MYSPACE.com I suggest you immediaqtely take measures to prevent them from doing so. Go to myspace.com and search for your teenager to see if they have a profile on there now, then take precautions. Some people will say I am being an alarmist, however, I ask them, how many Taylor Biels have to happen before you agree with me? It’s just like red lights at dangerous intersections, you can never get the authorities to put lights there until people are killed.

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[taylor biel and myspace.com]

The Kidsearch Network is currently building the largest network of Pivate Investigators in the US and that same network will be the largest Missing and Abducted Child Search Team in the world.

For a long time now, the Kidsearch Network has responded locally in California and in Florida where chapters exist to aid police in the search for missing and abducted scene. We have proven that this works. It provides extra manpower and resources to police efforts. As a result we have helped to recover more than 70 missing and abducted children. 22 of those children were recovered by members of our search team.

We have studied the problems associated with taking this unique approach nationwide. Setting it up chapter by chapter was one option discussed, but the time frame for that was too long. A Private Investigator and friend who helps the Kidsearch Network from time to time came up with the idea of a whole network of Private Investigators who would be willing to help with this project.

The idea was fantastic and we are currently seeking qualified Private Investigators to join the team. This will give us immediate response capabilities in many geographical areas. This approach sets things in motion much faster and when worked in conjunction with setting up new chapters, we will eventually be able to respond to a call about a missing or abducted child anywhere in the US.

To see how it all works and what benefits there are for the Private Investigators who join, click here.

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[Kidsearch Network Private Investigator Network]

All across the country this year, local and state authorities are placing registered offenders under one-night curfews or other restrictions out of fear that in only a few days, costumed children asking for candy will be arriving on their doorsteps.

Almost all of the new measures are aimed at people already tightly supervised: those on parole or on probation. They are typically in force in the late afternoon and evening, and call for the offenders to either attend treatment programs for several hours or to stay at home and not hand out candy. In those cases, probation and local police officers will go to the homes to ensure compliance, the authorities said.

More than 500,000 sex offenders are registered throughout the United States, but only a fraction will be affected by the new Halloween rules.

Carolyn Atwell-Davis, the director of legislative affairs for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, applauded the efforts but pointed out that most children are victimized by people they know, not by strangers.

Fact is Carolyn, There are estimated to be about 100 cases per year in the US where a child is abducted and murdered. The victims of these cases are “average” children, leading normal lives, and living with normal families, typical low-risk victims. The vast majority of them are girls (76%), with the average age being slightly over 11 years of age. In 80% of cases, the initial contact between the victim and killer is within 1/4 mile of the victim’s residence.

Over half (57%) of these child abduction murders are committed by a killer who is a stranger to the victim. Family involvement in this type of case is infrequent (9%). However, the relationship between the victim and the killer varies with the gender and age of the victim. The youngest females, 1-5 years old, tend to be killed by friends or acquaintances (64%), while the oldest females, 16-17 years old, tend to be killed by strangers (also 64%). The relationship between the killer and victim is different for the male victims. The youngest male victims (1-5 years old) are most likely to be killed by strangers (also 64%), as are the teenage males (13-15 years old, 60% and 16-17 years old, 58%).

Word of advice Carolyn, stick to legislative issues and stay away from quoting statistics that confuse the issue. What we are most worried about is children who are abducted and murdered. The worst of the worst, what YOUR organization claims to be focused on.

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