Sheriff Levorchick launches child ID program

Sheri Trusty
·3 min read
Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick, right, planned to offer child identification cards to parents at the Dec. 18 Reindeer Days event at Hopfinger Zimmerman Memorial Park, but frigid weather prevented him. Instead, he hung out with kids like nine-year-old Jaylah Mincer from Oak Harbor, shown here.
Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick, right, planned to offer child identification cards to parents at the Dec. 18 Reindeer Days event at Hopfinger Zimmerman Memorial Park, but frigid weather prevented him. Instead, he hung out with kids like nine-year-old Jaylah Mincer from Oak Harbor, shown here.

PORT CLINTON - According to the Missing Children Clearinghouse report, 14,027 children went missing in Ohio in 2021. Thanks to the efforts of law enforcement on the local, state and national levels, 97% of those children were safely found. Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick has a proactive plan to make sure law enforcement can respond as quickly as possible if a local child goes missing.

He wants to create identification cards for as many children as possible.

Levorchick’s plan is vital in light of the statistics from the 2021 annual Missing Children Clearinghouse report. The clearinghouse is part of the Missing Persons Unit of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. BCI is an arm of Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.

Ohio had 14,027 missing children in 2021

Of the 14,027 children who went missing in Ohio in 2021, 12,853 of them were between the ages of 13 and 17, 1,008 were ages 6 to 12, and 166 were ages birth to 5. Eight of those children were from Ottawa County and 29 were from Sandusky County.

According to information from the National Crime Information Center relating to cases where circumstances were designated, 8,366 of Ohio’s missing children in 2021 were runaways, 51 were abducted by noncustodial parents and 11 were abducted by a stranger.

However a child goes missing, time is vital to recovery. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “the first 48 hours following the disappearance of a child are the most critical in terms of finding and returning that child safely home.” The more quickly law enforcement agencies have access to information on the child, the more quickly they can respond to the situation. That is why Levorchick is utilizing KidPrint ID software, which is offered by Total ID Solutions, to create identification cards for local children.

The identification card includes a photo, date of birth, hair and eye color, height and weight. The ID cards are made of durable plastic and are credit card-size so they fit easily into a wallet. The Kidprint ID system includes the child’s fingerprints and demographic information to assist law enforcement.

In a proactive effort to protect local children, Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick is offering child identification cards to area families. Here, he stands with eight-year-old Carson and five-year-old Lily Hotz of Port Clinton.
In a proactive effort to protect local children, Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick is offering child identification cards to area families. Here, he stands with eight-year-old Carson and five-year-old Lily Hotz of Port Clinton.

The cards are voluntary and available to any Ottawa County parent wishing to have an ID card of their child.

Sheriff is making the program optional for parents

“It gives us the opportunity to provide parents with an actual ID card in case their child goes missing, so they have a card to give to law enforcement,” Levorchick said. “My goal is to create a card for every child whose parent wants one. We try to provide the best service in our community that we can.”

Levorchick planned to bring the Kidprint ID equipment to the recent Reindeer Days event at Hopfinger Zimmerman Memorial Park, but frigid weather prevented him. He hopes to offer ID cards at community events this summer. In the meantime, parents who want ID cards for their children can contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department at 419-734-4404 to make an appointment.

The ID cards are a forward-looking means for the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department to address the tragedy of missing children.

“We try to be visible and proactive in the community so we don’t have to be reactive,” Levorchick said.

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Sheriff Levorchick launches child ID program for Ottawa County