The first and most important step is to immediately contact your local police department.

 

 

 

Legal Note: This site has been prepared based upon our own personal experience with the abduction of our daughter.

The intent of this site is to share with you our course of action, not to give legal advice. Please contact the appropriate authorities in your area for any legal advice you may need.


 Provide the local police with all necessary information about the abducted child, the abductor, the "getaway" vehicle, etc. (see Get the Word Out).

Ask the police to issue an Amber Alert. They may hesitate initially, but if it truly is a case of an abducted child, time is critical. The Amber Alert road signs do not have to have a license plate number but they MUST have a car make/model and color.

Ask friends to drive the major highways to verify that the make/model and color are clearly and correctly displayed.

Call your State Highway department (M-Dot in Michigan) or the State Police if you see any issues with the signs. Do not take "no" for an answer - escalate your request, if necessary.

Ask the police which direction and where the abductor would likely go from the place of the abduction. In our case, the local police knew which direction a car thief would generally go as well as where, but we never thought to ask and the police never told us.

Ask the police what else can be done? Are they following a checklist, and if so, what are the steps? Do they have a checklist for the family of an abducted child? Is there someone who can give you guidance and help you with the search and the media? The police truly do understand the urgency, but for the mother and father, minutes seem like hours and hours seem like days, so constant information flow from the police to you will help you understand what's happening and why. Be polite but firm on what you want and ask for their suggestions on how to help. See The Polly Klaas Foundation web site and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children web site for additional information.

For large cities like Detroit, be aware that the police receive thousands of calls every day, many of them urgent. Even if you have to contact them yourselves, make sure that all departments/precincts know that an Amber Alert has been issued, and this is not just another crime. Pictures of child, car description, whatever is available, should be given to each officer during role call, and the city should be searched by grid. The standard police teletype distribution is good but pictures must be faxed ASAP.

Make it personal for them too. If possible, have a friend or family member physically drop off flyers at each precinct.

Ask the officer on duty to check all calls to report abandoned vehicles for make/model and color. For large cities, these types of calls are understandably low priority, but ask them to check anyway.

Don't assume that one call is enough. Call them before each shift change to make sure they have the information and it is being distributed.

If there were witnesses to the abduction, request that a police sketch be done as quickly as possible. You may have to ask the police for it to be done, and done quickly. In our case, Jenna was abducted at 3:00 p.m. and a police sketch of her abductor was ready for the 11:00 news, but we had to ask to have it done.

Remember, many businesses have video surveillance systems. Make sure the police get a copy of the tape as soon as possible.

Keep any witnesses around so that they can contribute to the description of the abductor or their car.

If your vehicle was taken with the abducted child, let police know if you had a cell phone or credit card(s) in the car. If used by the abductor, these items may be used to help locate them.

Inform every state police department in the surrounding states of the abduction/Amber Alert. Inform the border patrol, if applicable. If the abduction took place near the border, ask the border patrol to check their videotapes for cars matching the description of the abductor's.

If the police have not contacted the FBI, you should do so. Ask them what you can do to help. Make it personal for them as well.

Request that the abducted child's name be immediately entered in the National Crime Information System.

The police will probably ask you to come to the station for questioning, which should be standard procedure. They will want to know if you or your family have any enemies or know of anyone that might wish to harm you or your child. In our case, the police did call us in, but not until the following day. We were hesitant to leave the house and they did not do a very good job of explaining why we needed to come to the station. However, it is a necessary step in the police investigation.