The FBI's Child ID App: Putting Safety in Your Hands

[liesl78]

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/august/child_080511/child_080511

The FBI's Child ID App
Putting Safety in Your Hands

08/05/11

You're shopping at the mall with your children when one of them suddenly disappears. A quick search of the nearby area is unsuccessful. What do you do?

Now there's a free new tool from the FBI that can help. Our just launched Child ID app—the first mobile application created by the FBI—provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks.

The app also includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.

We encourage you to share the word about this app with family and friends, especially during upcoming activities in your communities to raise awareness on crime and drug prevention. For its part, the FBI is working to publicize the app with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA)—its long-time partner in the National Child Identification Program, which provides a physical kit to gather your child’s pictures, fingerprints, personal characteristics, and even DNA to keep with you in case of emergency. The AFCA is producing a public service announcement about the app and will spread the word at various football games during the upcoming season.

Right now, the Child ID app is only available for use on iPhones and can only be downloaded for free from the App Store on iTunes, but we plan to expand this tool to other types of mobile devices in the near future. And we’ll be adding new features—including the ability to upload other photos stored on your smart phone—in the coming weeks and months.

An important note: the FBI (and iTunes for that matter) is not collecting or storing any photos or information that you enter in the app. All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities. Please read your mobile provider’s terms of service for information about the security of applications stored on your device.

Put your child’s safety in your own hands. Download the FBI’s Child ID app today.

[Bob D'Amico]

This is excellent and good to see that our government is being proactive by giving parents and guardians a tool that can save lives.

The first hours of any kidnapping/abduction are extremely critical, this App allows the parent to have all the necessary info on hand and be able to provide it immediately to law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

I especially like that one simply touches a button and your phone calls NCMEC. We have too often read here on Bring Sean Home of a parent who contacted their local police and asked that their child be listed on NCMEC but the local police delayed or were ignorant or outright refused.

If you have an iPhone and minor children get this app!

We'll keep track of the FBI's progress in making the App available for other cellphone models, such as Blackberry and Android devices.

[SageDad]

They should add a big red button that says:

"Call the Office of Children's Issues"!!!

....seriously though.  I think this is a really good app too.

[StrngConviction]

It sounds good but also think this may just may be an apparently that gives a false sense of security.  If the police or FBI are not going to do it with you standing right there, why would they do it when someone clicks a button.  Again it will probably ring a center that will get ahold of you or set up an appointment and meanwhile asks you to do what we already do (call the police and get ignored )
 Don't get me wrong,  I am sure it has its place but I truly think its place is not with IPCAs.

[Bob D'Amico]

There are no references to international parental child abduction in any of the information issued by the FBI but parents who fear that their child may be abducted should certainly obtain it if they have an iPhone. There is good information on this website and the State Dept site on what a parents need to do in advance if they are concerned that their child may be abducted. I don't know how many emails I've received since 2008 from parents who stated that they were fearful that their child would be abducted and then shocked when it happened.

The App is presented as a 'tool' for parents/guardians not some magic software application that will find a lost or kidnapped child. While some people are naturally and/or by horrible experiences permanently cynical we can't go through life bemoaning everything. We would probably still be subjects of England if George Washington surrounded himself with cynics and naysayers or the British would be speaking German today if they had not massively increased the Royal Air Force before Hitler started World War II and before Churchill became Prime Minister.

This tool could help save one life or many lives. The Boy Scout motto applies here, "Be Prepared."

[StrngConviction]

There are no references to international parental child abduction in any of the information issued by the FBI but parents who fear that their child may be abducted should certainly obtain it if they have an iPhone. There is good information on this website and the State Dept site on what a parents need to do in advance if they are concerned that their child may be abducted. I don't know how many emails I've received since 2008 from parents who stated that they were fearful that their child would be abducted and then shocked when it happened.

The App is presented as a 'tool' for parents/guardians not some magic software application that will find a lost or kidnapped child. While some people are naturally and/or by horrible experiences permanently cynical we can't go through life bemoaning everything. We would probably still be subjects of England if George Washington surrounded himself with cynics and naysayers or the British would be speaking German today if they had not massively increased the Royal Air Force before Hitler started World War II and before Churchill became Prime Minister.

This tool could help save one life or many lives. The Boy Scout motto applies here, "Be Prepared."

Sorry if you thought I was being cynical, that I am not.  I was merely suggesting that it has its place for sure but wont help our children's situation.