On March 9, 2009, I interviewed three analysts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) on my podcast, "Analysts' Corner" on Blog Talk Radio. As the interview progressed It was immediately apparent to me how law enforcement underused this valuable resource. From child abduction cases, to missing runaways, from absconded sex offenders, to tips of suspected cyber child pornography, analysts at the NCMEC can help you more effectively investigate crimes and criminals.
The NCMEC was created in 1984, after the abduction and murder of John Walsh's son, Adam. Mr. Walsh worked as a change agent to improve the status quo of missing children in the U.S. Prior to that tragedy, stolen property, like cars, was entered into NCIC, but missing children and other missing persons were not. The center, located in Alexandria, Virginia, began with fewer than 20 staff, and now has 350 staff. Staff members provide law enforcement training at conferences and provide training at several levels. The Walsh Act did not pass until 2006; it resulted in a partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service to help the NCMEC target sexual offenders.
My guests on the podcast were analysts Kristen Anderson, director of the case analysis division, Angela Aufmuth, supervisor of the sex offender tracking team, and Carmen Glascow, supervisor of the case analysis unit. Kristen provided an overview of what services the 28 analysts in provide in the case analysis division, which includes the sex offender tracking team and the case analysis unit. The background checks unit, the research team, the attempted abduction team, the case analysis unit and the sex offender tracking team are located in the case analysis division.
Kristen Anderson says that it is a real challenge to do their work as a non-law enforcement agency. They have to be creative. Corporate partners help them access some databases, and "sometimes the answers are found in the most obvious places." Their analysts have become expert in mining the data on the Internet, tracking suspects' travel, community involvement and associations. They have an evolving library of links that all the analysts share. Through the Adam Walsh Act of 2006, they obtained NCIC access. Ms. Anderson say that NCIC offline has features often underused by law enforcement, including information on when other law enforcement agencies are investigating a specific abductor/offender's last known addresses, and, in some case, travel records. Analysts use this resource to point agencies to others who are investigating a particular suspect.
The NCMEC has federal liaisons co-located with them that provide assistance to their mission as needed FBI, ICE, U.S. Postal Inspector, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Secret Service. The FBI has analysts co-located there to deal with child exploitation cases, especially in Internet cases involving child pornography traded over state lines. The NCMEC help determine who a particular child and/or offender is. Child pornography is a very lucrative crime and investigators and analysts work with public and private sector to address it. By working with major financial institutions with the goal to stop flow of child pornography money, there is a better chance to stop the crimes. The NCMEC acts as an intermediary to pull it all together. Law enforcement can't do it alone the private sector wants to be, and must be part of the solution as well.
Analysts produce a biannual survey of all the sex offenders around the U.S. to determine as best as possible how many fugitive sex offenders are in the country. This survey serves to help determine what resources are available to tackle the problem. They produce a sex offender map twice a year that is available to the public at missingkids.com
There are 57 sex offender registries in the U.S., including the territories, and many are understaffed, so the data are not up-to-date. There is improved consistency in managing and monitoring sex offenders; however, it is still a big challenge there are massive amounts of data to sift through. NCMEC provide the search and analytical support you need to help you search for persons who have fallen off the radar sex offenders who may be preying on children in other places.
The attempted abductions team consists of two analysts who study child abduction failures for lessons learned. They note what prevention and investigative strategies work and what lures and ruses child abductors are using.
The case analysis unit works with case investigators in missing child cases. The six analysts assigned there follow-up on leads from a 24-hour call center by distributing the leads to the appropriate law enforcement agency. There is a main "missing child" database at the NCMEC, but there is no requirement for agencies to submit their missing child cases. Therefore, the analysts also search state web sites to look for other missing child cases to see if they can find out where the child might be. Carmen Glascow states that her analysts have become very savvy at using the Internet to search for leads on missing children. The analysts work daily on new cases, using public information and NCMEC data to create comprehensive reports for the case investigators.
The six analysts in the sex offender tracking team support the U.S. Marshals Service and local and state law enforcement in tracking down fugitive sex offenders. The offender may have recently disappeared, or may have been missing years and years. Angela Aufmuth states that "Google is a beautiful thing." Analysts use it to find a variety of information that leads them on the trail to locating missing sex offenders. Analysts on the team put the information they gather into a neat package for investigators. If they cannot locate a sex offender, they may be called again down the line, months later, to try again. They offer continued support.
According to Carmen Glascow, there is a new full-time analyst position dedicated to child prostitution. Endangered runaways represent the largest portion of missing child cases and many are falling prey to drug dealers turning to child trafficking. These offenders are very organized; the NCMEC is working on a task force with the Department of Justice, the FBI and Interpol to investigate and prosecute major criminal groups. She states that runaways from all socio-economic backgrounds can be at risk that, if they are on the street, they are at huge risk. Our tendency to look at runaways as problem children rather than victims intensifies the danger. While we tend to think of child prostitution as a problem in countries such as Thailand, it is a growing and under-reported domestic problem.
Tens of thousands of unidentified human remains are in this country and some of them are children. Analysts at the NCMEC work on identifying deceased children and help locate family members of deceased children, if the parents are deceased when the child is located.
Approximately 40 other analysts work in the other section of the NCMEC, the exploited children division. They focus in two areas, the cybertips hotline and the child victim identification program. Reports of online solicitations or online enticement are submitted by the public and by law enforcers to the Cybertips hotline; the NCMEC works with a majority of the internet service providers to shut down offending sites.
In the child victim identification program, analysts look at images of child pornography and examine the background to determine where a child might be located. In some cases, the child is already identified, but the photos are still being traded around the world. Hundreds of thousands of images are reviewed by analysts on a regular basis. Due to the Ashcroft vs. Free Speech Coalition 2002 decision, a successful prosecution of child pornography requires a child be identified as a real child rather than a virtual child the burden of proof is supported by the NCMEC analysts' difficult work
Demand for services ebbs and flows. Almost 1400 analytical packages have been provided to law enforcement by NCMEC analysts. The NCMEC has a request form posted on Law Enforcement Online (LEO) and requests can be made through email.
In order for the NCMEC to be most effective, you should submit any missing children cases to their agency. The more comprehensive data they have, the more likely they will be able to effectively assist you and your law enforcement colleagues around the nation. Best of all, you may be able to rescue a child from a life of prostitution, or put that dangerous sex offender behind bars. Use NCMEC resources to help protect our most vulnerable population, our children. They deserve it.