AST Digital Magazine June 2017 Digital-June | Page 33

Volume 13
Recovering Missing Kids,
By the FBI
June 2017 Edition
cases of missing children—90 percent of them
endangered runaways.
An investigator in the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children
Unit works at a command post in Maryland during a rescue
operation last summer.
The disappearance of a Virginia teenager—and
her successful rescue, within days, hundreds of
miles away—provides a glimpse into the FBI’s
role when kids go missing and are believed to be
in danger.
(Learn More. Courtesy of the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children and YouTube)
Police were called when the girl was believed
missing, setting in motion an intense process
that relies on the resources, expertise, and part-
nerships of local, state, and federal agencies, in-
cluding the FBI. Having determined the girl might be endan-
gered—susceptible to human trafficking, child
prostitution, or possibly the victim of abduction—
local police referred the case to special agents in
the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO).
Also alerted was the non-profit National Cen-
ter for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC),
which last year assisted with more than 20,500 It was a smooth transition because the agencies
work cases together on the region’s Child Exploi-
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