Children’s safety greatest concern

by Tad Camp 27. July 2009 18:27
Last updated at 12:03 AM on 27/07/09  


Children’s safety greatest concern
The Cape Breton Post

There’s a certain sense of relief that comes with the discovery of remains believed to be those of a young girl missing since last April, family members say. But at the same time it must be the most heartwrenching kind of relief.
As one relative of Tori Stafford said last week of the discovery of the remains near Mount Forest, Ont., the opposite would have proved excruciating. Rebecca Stafford said that the family would've spent a "lifetime" wondering where the little girl was.
Of course the news is well known that an Ontario couple who lived near the girl’s home in Woodstock, Ont., face charges in the case. Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death, even though a body had not at that time been found.
Hand-in-hand with this murder case comes the controversy of how the incident was initially handled by police, specifically, their decision not to employ an Amber Alert.
The girl went missing after school and the one piece of evidence found was a security video image of the girl going along willingly with a woman, who at the time was not identified.
Many thought with the disappearance an Amber Alert should have immediately been used. But Woodstock police claimed it didn’t fit the criteria.
For an Amber Alert to be triggered, police must believe a child under 18 has just been abducted, consider the child to be in danger of serious bodily harm, and have descriptive information of a suspect or vehicle. In Tori’s disappearance, police considered it to be a missing person case. It wasn’t until the Ontario Provincial Police came on board in the investigation that it was labelled an abduction.
After charges were laid, police said they believed the girl died the same day she went missing.
The Amber Alert policy is being reviewed, thankfully. Obviously, where there is a judgment call involved, if a child’s safety is at risk, it’s better to err on the side of caution.

New Glasgow News

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About the author

www.AmberChildSafety.com Because every child is worth protecting...

Amber Child Safety is dedicated to protecting America's children.

What is the Amber Child Safety System™? This system collects your child's information, starting with his/her description (height, weight, hair color, eye color, marks etc.) We also record and store fingerprints, dental records, and medical information.

You may be thinking: that's nice, but other firms do that too. What makes your company a better choice for my family? The answer is simple; we don't stop with just the basic information listed above. We are just getting started.

We collect information on your child's relationships, specifically, adults your child has contact with. This includes family members, family friends, teachers, sports coach, piano teacher, karate instructor, and friend's parents just to name a few.

Our goal is to collect the information needed to conduct a complete and thorough investigation into abduction or missing child cases. The time saved by police in the first few hours could mean the difference between safe recoveries and..well, you get the point.

Naturally, we recommend you keep the information updated and as complete as possible.

 

Mission

 

To aid in the recovery of abducted and missing children by providing high speed, cost effective communication tools to law enforcement and the communities they serve. Our top priority is the safe recovery of missing and abducted children.

 

Statement from the Amber Child Safety System™ creator,
Tad A. Camp:

 

I created this system to aid Law Enforcement in the recovery of missing and abducted children. I have worked on missing and abducted children cases across the country and have a 100% success rate. This system is based on the information I use to recover these children. The system will prompt you with questions in order to collect the most accurate information possible. We do not, for example, provide you with a blank space and ask you to give us the names and addresses of the people you can think of that has contact with your child. How many people would think to include the information on their child's soccer coach, karate instructor, piano teacher, or best friends new step parent?

I have eliminated all the guess work about your child's relationships. We ask specific questions about the people your child has, or may have contact with in a format designed to help you provide accurate information. I strongly encourage all parents to update the information on a regular basis.

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