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Hamblen County Emergency Communications has been recognized as a member of the Missing Kids Readiness Program that was developed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC staff notified Hamblen County 9-1-1 Wednesday and a formal presentation will be made in August at the annual conference of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officers.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children developed the Missing Kids Readiness Program to promote best practices for responding to calls of missing, abducted, and sexually exploited children. 9-1-1 call centers and law enforcement agencies are recognized for meeting essential training and policy elements demonstrating preparedness for responding to a missing child incident.

To meet the requirements of the Program, Hamblen County Emergency Communications worked with NCMEC on their missing child policy to ensure it met the critical elements of NCMEC’s model policy for call center agencies. In addition, all the staff at Hamblen County 9-1-1 – the telecommunicators, training officers, supervisors, and executive leadership – completed the required training for membership. Making these commitments of training and preparedness, Hamblen County 9-1-1 is communicating to its citizens and families that protecting the lives and safety of children is a top priority.

From the moment the report of a missing child comes in, to the resolution of the case, every action taken has the potential to make the difference between a successful recovery or a tragic outcome. Armed with the information, knowledge, and operational resources gained through meeting the program criteria, Hamblen County 9-1-1 is positioned to respond more quickly, comprehensively, and effectively when a child’s life may be at stake.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation whose mission is to help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization. NCMEC works with families, victims, private industry, law enforcement, and the public to assist with preventing child abductions, recovering missing children, and providing services to deter and combat child sexual exploitation.