Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey’s Weekly Crime Tip

tips for parents with lost child

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Within the past month members of our agency have responded to two separate calls for service where a young child has been located standing near the roadway in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, in both cases the children were rescued before any harm could occur and were safely returned home to their parents. In both cases, the families had gone to bed with their children safely inside their home and tucked in bed.

The children later woke during the night and exited the secure home. While these scenarios are concerning, it also brought to light another safety aspect, which is how much information we teach our little ones in the event they are lost or separated from us.

In both cases, the children could not provide any details about their names, their parent’s names or emergency contact information. The children were only returned to their families after exhaustive efforts to identify the children and locate their parents. As such, I thought we would use this week’s Crime Prevention Message to discuss how we can better prepare our children in case they get lost.

Let’s first address how we can avoid our kids getting outside of the home after we have gone to bed or are busy tending to a matter or chore inside the home. The easiest solution is to install door locks that are placed near the upper portion of the door and well out of reach from little ones.

You can also install alarms on the exterior doors that alert the homeowner to a door that is opened. In fact, this type of safety feature is important when the home has a pool in the back yard that could attract the interest of children.

Both of these techniques should be accompanied by good communication with the child to make sure they understand the importance of never leaving the home without a parent or guardian.

The second part of this week’s message involves making sure our children know everything they need to know to tell Law Enforcement Officers, Teachers, and custodial figures who they are, where they live and who their parents are in case of an emergency.

In a recent discussion with some of our Brevard School Teachers, I learned that it is not uncommon for children to be unfamiliar with their full names, their parent’s names, address, or telephone numbers. In fact, when asked about their parent’s names most children will reply “Mom or Dad!” As parents, it is very important to make sure that we tell our children everything they need to know in the event they are lost or need help.

Information they can provide to immediately locate the parents. Parents, please make sure that your child can either communicate or provide the following important information in the event there is an emergency or they are separated or lost.

1. Their Name
2. Their Parent’s Name
3. Contact Number(s) For Parents
4. Home Address
5. Names of Siblings
6. What School They Attend

Depending on the child’s age and ability to effectively communicate, parents should openly discuss the information with their children or make sure that they have the information on them or in their school bag to make sure they can safely be reunited with their parents should they get lost.

I would like to thank each of you for taking the time to read our Weekly Crime Prevention Message and for sharing this vital and important information with your family and friends so that we can all work together to keep each other safe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey has been a law enforcement officer for over three decades. Sheriff Ivey is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Daytona State College in Management and Supervision. Sheriff Ivey’s background in law enforcement is inclusive of Management, Criminal Investigations, Narcotics, Patrol Services, Public Integrity Investigations, and Corrections.

Prior to being elected in 2012, Sheriff Ivey served the citizens of the State of Florida as a Resident Agent in Charge for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. As a member of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sheriff Ivey developed and created the country’s first ever statewide Task Force on Identity Theft.

That same year the Task Force was named one of the top five most innovative programs in the country by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and investigated approximately 44 million dollars in fraud cases. Additionally, as a member of FDLE, Sheriff Ivey created the Child Abduction Response Team (C.A.R.T) that re-defined the way Child Abduction cases are conducted throughout the country today.

The program was later selected as the most innovative program in the country by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and is now used as a nationwide model in the response and investigation of child abductions.

Sheriff Ivey has testified before the United States Congress on law enforcement related matters and has extensive experience in the area of Public Integrity Investigations. Sheriff Ivey was honored as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Special Agent of the Year (1996) and was also recognized by the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for his Outstanding Contributions to Criminal Justice. In August of 2011 Sheriff Ivey was honored by the National Organization of Victims Advocacy for his work at the national level as an advocate of victim’s rights and protection.

Sheriff Ivey speaks regularly on topics such as Identity Theft, Crime in America, Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Self Defense through Mental Preparedness. Sheriff Ivey firmly believes that Crime Prevention and Education are vital to reduce our crime rate and protect our community.

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