Child Abduction Response Team to be formally certified today
Jun. 1—A group of volunteers who assist law enforcement across the region in searches for missing persons is scheduled to be formally recognized for their efforts.
The Northeast Texas Child Abduction Response Team (CART) will be recognized during a Certification Presentation Ceremony today at the Rockwall County Library located at 1215 E Yellow Jacket Lane.
Program Administrator Janell Rasmussen of the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and select staff members will officially present Certification Certificates and officially recognize Northeast Texas CART as the third Certified Child Abduction Response Team (CART) in the State of Texas, and the 32nd certified in the United States.
The Hunt County Sheriff's Office has participated in the program for more than 10 years and has been successful in finding numerous children and returning them home.
On June 3, 2022 the Hunt County Fairgrounds acted as the staging area for the exercise to train for the possibility of a child abduction.
The Hunt County Sheriff's Office hosted the event, which also involved members of the EastTex Regional Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Mark9 Search and Rescue.
The teams were joined by representatives with the Texas Rangers, FBI, Fox Valley Technical College, Team Adam, Rockwall County Sheriff's Office, Rockwall Police Department, Farmersville Police Department, Fate Police Department, Royse City Police Department, Wylie Police Department, Texas Highway Patrol Department, Texas Department of Family Protective Services and the Hunt County Child Advocacy Center.
The purpose of the exercise was to test the response of local law enforcement, CART and CERT-vetted volunteers to a missing child incident, including the investigative process, command and control systems, family advocate and victim assistance and search rescue/recovery team operations
During the exercise, evaluators from the Fox Valley Technical College and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were to assess the team's response capabilities for National CART program certification.
