Minutes before 8 a.m. on September 5, 2013, a child was snatched from a park playground in Riverton, Utah, in front of dozens of people. The people were expecting to play a role in the mock activation for the Utah Child Abduction Response Team (CART) but they had no idea they would be witnesses to a carefully planned abduction.

“One witness looked over and refused to look back,” said Utah CART Coordinator Jessica Farnsworth. “They said, ‘We really didn't see anything.’ People do not go around expecting to witness an abduction.”

For about six months Farnsworth and Co-Coordinator Patty Reed worked to come up with an exercise with as many realistic details as possible that would truly test the team's ability to respond to the challenges that may be encountered during an actual abduction.

They recruited more than 100 neighbors and friends to act out the roles of victim, suspect and witnesses. Some of the participants called in tips and others allowed investigators to come in and search their homes.

“If you do not use your skills then you lose them,” said Farnsworth. “CART members are highly skilled, and we need to make sure they can respond quickly if this happens in real life.”

The Utah CART has about 150 members from 26 local, state and federal agencies with expertise in computers, forensics, search and rescue, crime intelligence analysis and other areas.

The last mock activation was held three years ago to test whether the Utah CART would receive national certification from the U.S. Department of Justice. The Utah CART was started six years ago and is now one of 19 teams in the country with national certification.

The timeline shows that this exercise moved very fast: at 8:26 a.m. CART members respond to the CART activation, with the dispatcher's original report indicating a 9- to 11-year-old girl was grabbed by the wrist and started screaming for help. At 8:45 a.m. a mother calls in and reports her 12-year-old daughter Mckenna was missing. At 9:26 a.m. CART members arrive at the command post near Riverton Chase Park. At 10:04 a.m. the decision is made to issue an AMBER Alert. At 10:13 a.m., instead of activating the official state AMBER Alert system, Twitter is used and tweets start going out with details about the mock victim and suspect, including a description of McKenna Eldredge, 12, and the suspect's vehicle. At 9:53 a.m. a tweet sends out a photo of the abducted child.

The team began canvassing the area and checking for sex offenders when tips came in that a man in his 20's was seen dragging a girl down the canal road. At 11:20 a.m. investigators found the victim's bracelet inside a vehicle near the road and soon found her hoodie on the canal road.

The “victim” was found at 11:51 a.m. and a tweet went out two minutes later announcing the abduction “victim” was located safe at Jordan Parkway while the suspect was still at large. The “suspect,” played by Daniel Stewart, was arrested at 12:15 p.m.

Despite the massive numbers of CART members and the quick recovery, those in the exercise learned they could have done better with more people. “New leads came in but there were not enough investigators to handle them,” said Utah CART Search Coordinator Leo Lucey. “We would have found her 45 minutes earlier with enough resources.”

A debriefing was held a few hours after the exercise to find out what went right, what went wrong and what is needed to improve. Teams are encouraged to hold a debriefing and prepare an “After-Action Report” anytime a CART is activated, even for an exercise.

Here are some examples of the lessons learned: witnesses mistakenly thought the suspect had a hat and was wearing jeans instead of khakis, the location of the printing plotter caused delays for making maps, the victim's family needed hourly updates, and the CART needed more investigators, searchers, radios, and flyers.

The media was invited to take part in the exercise, and reporters and camera crews gave the exercise more authenticity. Members of CARTs in Iowa, Arizona, and Southern and Northern Utah also came to observe.

“You did a good job of getting back and forth with your information,” said Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) Special Agent Don Schnitker. “It was important to see when leads come in whether or not it has already been checked.”

“It was very impressive,” said Iowa DPS Special Agent Michael Motsinger. “We have been talking about how far you have come. This will be huge to take back and use as a springboard to go forward.”

“It was really impressive and it is good to know you are not far away if we need help,” said St. George, Utah, Police Captain Kyle Whitehead.

One of the biggest surprises: a real stolen vehicle was discovered by the license plate reader during the exercise.

Despite some missed opportunities, everyone was impressed by what was accomplished in such a short amount of time. “I was blown away that you had found the child so soon,” said Farnsworth.

“You guys put the safety in public safety,” concluded Ken Wallentine, former Chief of Law Enforcement for the Utah Attorney General's Office. “I appreciate your service.”