LAKE COUNTY — Your child hasn”t come home. What should you do?
Act immediately.
Tracy Martinazzi of Nice knows this fear firsthand. Her 15-year-old son ran away for three weeks, finally returning home June 10.
She recommends parents contact friends and family, file a missing persons report with law enforcement, report them missing through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, put up posters with a photo and follow all leads.
Lt. Brad Rasmussen of Lakeport police said if a child is missing to contact law enforcement immediately. He said in many cases the child just didn”t come home on time.
“In the event of something more serious happening, it makes it more difficult for us to not get the information quickly,” Rasmussen said.
He said parents should have current photographs of their children and keep a fingerprint card along with DNA samples.
John Flynn, master of the Clear Lake Callayomi Masonic Lodge, said the masons conduct free fingerprinting every year in September at the Lake County Fair. He said they fingerprinted about 780 children last year and plan to do it again this year.
Sgt. Jason Ferguson of Lakeport police said there are certain requirements to use the Amber Alert system, notifications of abductions on electronic highway signs and other broadcasts. The case has to be a confirmed abduction verified through witnesses or other information. The child has to be younger than 17 or proven and doctor-verified mentally or physically disabled at any age. Law enforcement needs a reason to believe the missing person is in immanent danger of serious bodily injury or death. There also needs to be information provided so that the general public can assist in recovering the victim.
In the case of runaways, law enforcement tries to bring the child back to the parents, Rasmussen said.
“We try to assist as much as we can on calls of runaways,” Rasmussen said.
He said most of the time law enforcement can”t mitigate the reasons why children run away.
“We try to work things out to get the child back on track,” Rasmussen said.
Martinazzi thinks parents need to be aware of what their children are doing, who they”re with and where. She also warned to check for signs of drug use starting about middle-school age.
“We”ve got a lot of kids using drugs, especially in Lake County,” she said. “They don”t have a lot to do and they”re running the streets.”
She recommends enrolling children in after-school activities to keep them busy and to stay in contact with neighbors and parents of children”s friends, along with knowing their phone numbers and addresses. Martinazzi thinks parents have a responsibility to know if their child”s friend has the OK to stay the night and if they suspect abuse to call Child Protective Services or law enforcement.
“That child could be a runaway, especially if they look disheveled,” Martinazzi said.
She said while allowing a child to stay over “might sound like a good thing, there”s a mom or dad on the other end who can”t sleep at night.”
Contact Katy Sweeny at kdsweeny@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
