The U.S. Department of Justice has certified two additional Child Abduction Response Teams (CART). The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in Florida and the Pierce County, Washington, Regional CART are the latest teams to meet the rigorous standards required to join the elite ranks of certified teams across the U.S.
“Support starts at the top,” said Alan Wolochuk, CART Certification Manager. “The total commitment of the sheriff and top law enforcement leaders for both teams set a standard for all CARTs to follow. The citizens in these communities should be very proud of what has been accomplished.”
The CART certification process is very challenging, requiring teams to meet 12 standards and demonstrate proficiencies outlined across 47 sections of the AMBER Alert CART Certification Manual. The CART must conduct a mock child abduction exercise which includes scoring across areas including: CART response and AMBER Alert activation, call-intake procedures, leads management, incident command structure, resource management, information technology, legal issues, victim assistance and reunification.
In Pasco County the mock abduction utilized a mock city named “Safety Town,” a scaled down version of a small city containing a small park, residences, bank, home improvement store, streets, sidewalks and a school. This was the first certification conducted in a facility of this kind.
The mock abduction began at 9 a.m. and involved the witnessed abduction of a 10-year old female. The female was abducted while walking to a school bus stop. A witness called law enforcement and reported the incident.
“We fight as one,” said Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco. “Being part of the CART Certification process was extremely rewarding. It helped validate all the hard work and training we did and continue to do. Preparing for the protection of our children is one of the most important things we can do for our community. No agency can ever truly be ready for an abducted child investigation. However we are committed to being as ready as we can.”
The Pierce County Regional CART had more than 100 participants during the certification process including the sheriff’s department, federal and state investigators, police and fire departments, prosecutors, emergency management and the 911 call center.
The U.S. now has 21 certified Child Abduction Response Teams.
Photo captions: Pasco County CART certification exercise; Tacoma CART certification exercise.
Certification Is Not the End of Training for Child Abduction Response Teams
For Child Abduction Response Teams (CART), achieving certification by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, is just the beginning. Following initial certification, the CART must prepare to meet the criteria for annual recertification every year thereafter.
In January of each year, following the awarding of initial certification, the CART must be able to show completion of specified tasks and required documentation in order to maintain its certified status. Requirements for annual re-certification include:
- Absent an actual CART activation, the CART is required to conduct at least one field exercise during the calendar year. The CART is required to provide a summary of each incident to include the date, circumstances of the incident, number of individuals and agencies activated, outcome and lessons learned and changes made to policy, practice, use of resources or personnel deployment or other significant changes to the CART.
- Document any changes to personnel, CART leadership, participating agencies, resources and any significant changes to the CART.
- Verify the CART remains in compliance with all applicable standards and certification requirements.
The required recertification forms must be signed by the CART Coordinator and CEO of the lead agency, certifying the accuracy of the information provided. The documentation is forwarded to the CART Program Director during the first quarter of each year following certification. Once reviewed and approved, the CART is notified of its recertification status.