Crawley MP Henry Smith is urging local businesses, schools and the community to sign up to receive Child Rescue Alerts.
At an event in Westminster on 24th February, Kate McCann and Coral Jones, the mothers of Madeleine McCann and April Jones, urged as many people as possible to sign up to Child Rescue Alert.
Henry said;
“I’d encourage everyone to sign up to receive Child Rescue Alerts to help find vulnerable children in those vital first hours after they go missing.
“Schools can help by encouraging parents to sign up and businesses can join major employers such as Royal Mail who have signed up their employees. It’s quick, it’s free and you could help save a child’s life.”
Child Rescue Alert is a national system designed to alert the public, as quickly as possible, to abduction or other urgent high-risk child disappearances.
Statistics show that the initial hours after a child is abducted are crucial, and a sighting by a member of the public can lead to the safe recovery of the child.
Child Rescue Alert can be applied anywhere in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland at local, regional or national levels. Alerts are sent directly to individuals by free text message (SMS), email and app notifications and reach many thousands more through broadcast media, digital billboards and social media.
Karen Bradley, the Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation, also spoke at the Westminster meeting and outlined what the Government is doing to support the scheme.
The first Child Rescue Alert was issued in March 2015, when a 14 year old girl from the Midlands went missing. The Police ordered an alert be issued and the system went into action, with the alert being issued to over 250,000 subscribers. Groupcall’s dedicated software ensured that every subscriber to Child Rescue Alert received the alert. The alert appeared on Facebook pages and Twitter feeds and on the hand held devices of 124,000 Royal Mail postal workers. Thankfully, the child was found safe and well less than 24 hours later.
Jo Youle, Chief Executive of Missing People said:
“It is really encouraging to know that every day; more and more people are registering to receive Child Rescue Alerts. The more people registered, the more people will be alerted the next time a child goes missing and their life is believed to be in immediate danger.
“There is a clear link between the number of people registered to receive alerts and the system’s ability to save a child’s life. I am pleased to hear that so many MPs are recognising the value of this important system and asking the communities in their constituencies to register at www.childrescuealert.org.uk.”
Child Rescue Alert is a partnership by the National Crime Agency, Missing People and education technology company Groupcall. It has been available as a national policing tool since 2008 and was enhanced in 2014 to allow the public to get involved thanks to funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery Dream Fund.
In 2016, the service is being funded by Royal Mail, which has registered the handheld devices of 123,000 postmen and women across the UK to receive alerts. It’s free to register and to receive alerts.
To sign up for Child Rescue Alert, please register online at: www.childrescuealert.org.uk or text HERO and your postcode to: 85080.