WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT...

Posted by Nancy Powell, KC Scout Traffic Management Center Supervisor

KC Scout Supports Belton Masonic Lodge #450 Child Identification Program

Event held at the High Blue Wellness Center, Belton, MO

This most worthy FREE annual community event was held on Saturday, October 6^th in Belton, MO.  Sponsored jointly by the Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation and Belton Masonic Lodge #450, MOCHIP is a comprehensive child identification and protection program designed to provide Missouri families with a proactive means of being prepared if a child or teenager goes missing.  Volunteers from Belton Masonic Lodge #450 coordinated and promoted the event while a team of St. Joseph area Lodge and Auxiliary members provided the technology used to capture a child’s digital photograph, fingerprints and vital AMBER Alert compatible information which is then provided to parents on a mini-CD disc.  A+ students from Belton High School assisted with the data capture and collection. No information was retained by the organization and all computers were fully scrubbed of any information at the conclusion of the event.  The only record that is kept by the Foundation is the signed parental consent form.

Scout backpacks, coloring books & crayons were handed out
to more than 175 children at the event. 

In addition to height and weight information, digital facial photos and fingerprints, a dental bite impression was captured, which like fingerprints, is unique to each individual.  The wafer also collects enough saliva to provide a DNA sample and a source scent for trained canine search and recovery teams.  Combined, this information is a valuable resource for law enforcement in the critical minutes following the discovery that a child is missing.

KC Scout staff along with MoDOT Motorist Assist Operator Craig Burgett were on hand to answer questions about AMBER Alert activations and the role KC Scout plays in assisting local law enforcement.  During the five hour event, over 170 children from toddlers to teens were safeguarded by having their personal identity profile captured to CD for easy retrieval and sharing by parents if the unthinkable should happen.  And as we know from all too recent experience, it does happen.  Best to be prepared!

KC Scout Motorist Assist Operator Craig Burgett



Belton PD School Resource Officer Tom Phillips and Cathy Jones, KC Scout

 

 

 



St. Joseph Lodge Technical Support/Registration Volunteer

Masonic Lodge #450 Volunteers

AMBER Alert Marks 10 Year Milestone

Posted by Nancy Powell
KC Scout TMC Supervisor



But sadly, not all AMBER Alerts have happy endings

 

Earlier this evening before posting this blog, Colorado authorities positively identified the dismembered body of missing 10 year old Jessica Ridgeway, who disappeared on her way to school in Westminster, CO last Wednesday, October 5th.  An AMBER Alert was issued that same day, but there was very little information available at that time.  Jessica's father and his family reside in Independence, MO and we extend our sincere sympathies on their tragic loss. 

This month marks the 10^th Anniversary of the DOJ mandate that all 50 states adopt the AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert system, which unofficially began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. That impromptu plan was created as a legacy to nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnaped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation. 

In October 2002, then President George W. Bush, directed Attorney General (and Missouri native) John Ashcroft to appoint an AMBER Alert Coordinator at the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children.  Subsequently, the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act, was signed on April 30, 2003, which strengthened law enforcement’s ability to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish violent crimes committed against children. The PROTECT Act codified the previously-established National AMBER Alert Coordinator role in the Department of Justice. 

According to the AMBER Alert website, 591 abducted children have been safely recovered since 1996.  Today all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have AMBER Alert plans. 

The US Department of Transportation was an early supporter of the use of electronic roadway message devices for AMBER Alert notifications to the motoring public.  In August of 2002, the FHWA Office of Operations issued a Policy Memorandum to state DOTs detailing consistent criteria for using CMS/DMS (Changeable Message Signs/Dynamic Message Signs) to help recover abducted children that has proven successful across the country, both as a means of locating an abducted child and serving as a deterrent to those who may be considering such an act.  Furthermore, federal funding was made available to implement such programs at the state DOT level as early as February 2003.

KC Scout actively participates in the issuance of AMBER Alerts when the issuing agency is one of three distinct sources; The Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kansas City Metro Squad or the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.  Local law enforcement agencies must coordinate with one of these three agencies in order for an AMBER Alert to be posted on Missouri and Kansas KC Scout message boards.  The intent of this policy is to assure that the information is vetted fully to avoid false or hoax notifications from persons engaged in custody battles or with an intent to distribute misinformation.

For more information, visit the AMBER Alert website at: (http://www.amberalert.gov/site_index.htm)



On A Very Sad Note

Posted by Nancy Powell
KC Scout Traffic Management Center Supervisor



 

"...When will they ever learn?..."

The line above is from the 1961 folk song by Pete Seeger entitled “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”  It was originally penned as a rhetorical meditation on death that has since been re-recorded in various genres dozens of times over the past 50 years.  It stood as an anthem against the loss of young soldiers during the Vietnam era, and now, half a century later, the message is still one of senseless loss among other heroes of these modern times.  MoDOT and the KC Scout family continue to grieve the devastating loss of Mr. Clifton Scott, a 15 year Department veteran and beloved colleague who died after being struck on I-70 early on the morning of September 21^st as he was assisting first responders on the scene of an earlier accident.  His life was taken in an instant by a driver who chose to get behind the wheel of a car with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit.   The emphasis is on the word “chose” because that driver had other choices that night.  He could have called a cab or a family member but instead he chose to exercise his right to poor judgment and will have to live the remainder of his life with the consequences of his actions.  Clifton Scott’s 15 year old son, Clifton, Jr. will live the remainder of his life without the companionship and love of an adoring father. 

But one senseless death was apparently not enough to make others choose more wisely.  On September 29^th, the day that Mr. Scott was laid to rest, a 41 year old man from Kansas City was struck and killed while he stood outside his broken down minivan on I-35 in Johnson County by an inattentive driver who also struck a second pedestrian at the scene, before running away from the wreckage.  And it gets worse.  On Monday, October 1^st a 54 year old woman died in a crash at 40 Hwy and I-70 involving a semi tractor trailer that turned left in front of her vehicle.  Drunk driving, distracted driving, it has many names.  But it has one common characteristic – it can be avoided.  It is a simple choice. 

“When will they ever learn?”  Let that day be today.  MOVE OVER and SLOW DOWN for Emergency Vehicles, including MoDOT and Tow vehicles on the roadway.  DON’T TEXT AND DRIVE!!  No message is worth losing your life or taking another’s.  DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!! Use good judgment instead of standing in judgment for a bad decision that can never be undone.  The choice belongs to everyone.

http://www.modot.mo.gov/kansascity/connections_kansascity.htm

“Where have all the flowers gone?  Gone to young men everyone.”

Rest In Peace,

Clifton Scott

Sept. 25, 1961 – Sept. 21, 2012