Newly certified Child Abduction Response Team in Delaware County ready to help statewide
When a child is missing or abducted in Ohio, Delaware County's multiagency Child Abduction Response Team might be called on to help.
While the team comprises a number of central Ohio agencies, Lt. Dave Buttler of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office said, it has responded to incidents elsewhere in the state, as well.
"We get calls from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to respond outside of Delaware County," he said, and some cases handled by the team occurred in Adams County, Port Clinton and Kenton.
On Nov. 1, the sheriff's office announced that the team had received CART certification from the U.S. Department of Justice, a procedure that Buttler said took two years to complete and makes the Delaware County team the only one certified in Ohio.
The team began its operations in 2015, Buttler said.
"We've had quite a few callouts that we've responded to prior to our certification," he said.
CART training, certification impact on cases involving missing or abducted children
Participating agencies are trained to meet the specific requirements of an abduction case, Buttler said.
"It's a multijurisdictional team that is trained specifically to respond and manage missing- and abducted-children scenes. The team was trained in aspects of logistics, volunteer management, search and rescue and investigation techniques ... to be able to assist other agencies in the event of a missing or abducted child," he said.
Other Delaware County tools:Submarine drones help first responders navigate troubled waters
Delaware County Sheriff Russell Martin said the CART team is prepared when called on.
"It's a good feeling knowing that if under the most difficult circumstances we receive that call, that our office and our partners are prepared to respond with the best available personnel, equipment and procedures," Martin said.
Among tools available to the CART, Buttler said, are a small sonar-equipped boat and a remote-controlled underwater drone. The drone will be used to investigate if sonar spots something suspicious underwater, he said.
While it is a rare event, Buttler said, nationwide cases have been reported of small children murdered by being thrown into water.
Statistics on missing, exploited children demonstrate CART need
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website, missingkids.org/ourwork/impact, the organization has a toll-free number, 1-800-THE-LOST, which had received 94,428 calls in 2021.
The hotline is manned by trained operators 24/7 to take reports of missing children, tips from the public about sightings of missing children and reports of suspected child sexual exploitation online, according to the website.
Among those 2021 incidents, NCMEC assisted law enforcement, families and child welfare with 27,733 cases of missing children, the site said. Of those, 25,174 cases involved endangered runaways.
Buttler said a case of a stranger pulling up in a car and taking a child is a rarity.
"Those are not what you're going to see in today's world," he said, generally speaking.
What's far more likely, he said, is an adult using the internet to groom a child.
Ohio's CART history (2014 story):State tweaks program to help find missing kids
Although most cases are endangered runaways, other scenarios could result in a missing child, Buttler said.
Those involving the most risk to a child, he said, are abductions committed by someone known to the family and the more rare abductions by a stranger.
Two other categories are children lost, injured or otherwise missing and children taken by a noncustodial parent, usually as a result of a custody dispute, he said.
For 2021, according to the NCMEC site, the nation had 1,385 reported family abductions, 891 missing young adults, 142 nonfamily abductions and 141 children lost, injured or missing.
When adults were added to the total, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported 522,000 persons were reported missing in 2021, said Tracy Whited, the sheriff's director of public relations.
DOJ certification test, achievement
Whited said the DOJ certification involved a test exercise in May that lasted more than six hours, which concluded when the mock victim and suspect were found.
"It was a rather intense and somewhat long exercise," Whited said.
The effort involved a number of volunteers, including alumni from citizens academies of the sheriff's office and the Delaware and Powell police departments.
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Of 80 such CART programs nationwide, only 32 are certified, Buttler said.
"This is quite an achievement to be recognized as the first child-abduction response team to be accredited in Ohio," Martin said.
"We think it's going to provide additional safety for our families locally. It's a tribute to the men and women we partner with locally to help us respond under these really critical circumstances, with the most competent and compassionate response to a child missing."
He credited Buttler as a motivating factor leading to the certification.
"Lt. Dave Buttler in our office has worked really hard to get this accreditation, and I'm very proud of him," Martin said.
Whited said that in addition to the sheriff's office, other agencies participating in the CART are police departments in Delaware, Powell, Westerville, Genoa Township and Shawnee Hills, plus the sheriff's offices in Franklin and Marion counties, Ohio BCI, Delaware County Emergency Medical Services, Delaware County Emergency Management and Delaware County Juvenile Court.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Delaware County Child Abduction Response Team ready to serve statewide
