The Habersham County E-9-1-1 Center has joined others across the nation in preparing for situations involving missing, abducted or sexually exploited children.
The announcement came Friday afternoon from the Habersham County Commissioners Office.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) developed the Missing Kids Readiness Project 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 Project, Habersham County E-9-1-1 worked with NCMEC on their missing child policy to ensure it met the critical elements of NCMEC’s model policy for law enforcement agencies," the statement reads. "In addition, Habersham County E-9-1-1 director, assistant director and telecommunicators completed the online training course for Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) managers and ensured all first responders and frontline supervisors completed the necessary classroom and/or online training offered through NCMEC. By demonstrating remarkable leadership and making this commitment of training and preparedness, the Habersham County E-9-1-1 is communicating to its citizens and families that protecting the lives and safety of their children is a top priority."
Habersham County E-9-1-1 now is one of 251 PSAP agencies in the United States that have achieved this status, and the fifth agency in Georgia.
More information about the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Missing Kids Readiness Project can be found at http://www.missingkids.com/MKRP.
Other agencies in Georgia that have achieved the status include Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Chattahoochee River 9-1-1 Authority in Sandy Springs, Decatur Police Department, and Floyd County E-9-1-1 in Rome.
