Because the clear majority of Missing Person
complaints involve children under the age of eighteen, all of our Missing
Person investigations are managed by the department's Juvenile
Section.
On average, the Fort Wayne Police Department receives
two or three missing persons complaints every day. Most of
these are in the form of "runaways" who eventually return home
on their own. Some of these same juveniles will runaway several
times during their adolescent years.
The cumulative effect of these complaints, and their subsequent
cancellations, requires the full-time attention of one detective.
The Missing Persons investigator works closely with the department's Records Section
to ensure that missing persons files are
updated or purged to reflect the person's most-accurate status.
Even so, there are times when a parent neglects to report the return of
their child and the juvenile remains on the department's active missing
person list until follow-up inquiries reveal the child's true status.
Some missing children complaints are determined to be the result of a
child-custody dispute between the parents. In these cases, the
complaint can be documented to assist the grieved-parent in securing
assistance from the Prosecutor's office.
Another type of "missing person" is the the mentally or memory
impaired person who wanders away from their family
or care provider. In most instances, they are located within
a short period of time; however as a precautionary measure, special alert codes are entered into
the NCIC nationwide computer system to help identify any impaired
individual who may travel outside the Fort Wayne/Allen County area. In past
cases,
local Alzheimer patients have been located in other states.
The Alzheimer Identification Coalition has developed an identification
program for people suffering from Alzheimer disease. The service
provides patient registration, a photo of the person, and reporting
instructions that will assist police in their search for your friend or
family member who can not be located. The service is free of
charge. For more information call 260-420-5547
or e-mail them at alzheimersupport@fwi.com
Additional family assistance is offered via the
SAFENET
Program which is managed by the Allen County TRIAD and supported by
various sponsors . This service provides a free
identification bracelet to assist public safety personnel in identifying
your missing family member. For more information call 260-458-2005
or 888-219-6868.
The AMBER
ALERT program is a tool
designed to utilize the vast networking capabilities of the media to spread the
news about an "abducted" child and the perpetrator. The
AMBER Alert system is not to be
considered for runaways or a child who is simply late to arrive
home. The AMBER Alert is reserved for those occurrences where a witness or
other factors indicate that the
child was actually abducted, and where a suspect and/or vehicle
description is available for broadcast. The suspect/vehicle data is
provided to the media, who then broadcasts this information via special radio and
television alerts. The AMBER ALERT program empowers the entire community to aid
in the search of the missing child.
If you ever find it necessary to file a missing person report,
please have
a recent photo of the person available for the police.
