The Center of the Search.

On an average day in America, 12 children become kidnaping victims. Child abduction and exploitation cases present special problems for law enforcement agencies across the country. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) operates in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice as a clearinghouse for information concerning child abduction/exploitation cases. The NCMEC also works to assist law enforcement agencies with these types of investigations.

While the center began operating in 1984, many agencies remain unaware of the full range of services it offers. The Center of the Search video is intended to introduce the law enforcement community to the national center and to clarify its capabilities.

The 18-minute videotape focuses on the various ways in which the NCMEC can assist law enforcement in investigating missing or exploited children cases. The goal of the video is to encourage the law enforcement community to make full use of the many services offered by the center.

For example, NCMEC personnel can provide computerized age-progression photographs of children. They can also produce reconstructions of facial images from morgue photographs of unidentified deceased juveniles. One unit within the NCMEC can search active missing child cases based on a series of identifiers. Police officers with suspicions regarding a particular child can contact the NCMEC with descriptive information and request that a database search be conducted for possible matches.

The video also discusses past cases successfully resolved through the use of NCMEC services. By reexamining these cases, the videotape presents officers with critical information on how they might pursue similar investigations.

Considering the resource-intensive nature of most child abduction/exploitation cases, the assistance provided by organizations such as the NCMEC can be of vital importance to law enforcement agencies. This video helps to clarify the services available through an often overlooked resource.