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CA Plans Quick Response to Find Missing Children

By Kamika Dunlap on May 13, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

California plans to unveil a legislative package designed to help law enforcement respond quickly to find missing children.

The father of slain teenager Amber Dubois is working with lawmakers to unveil a full package on May 25, National Missing Children's Day, the San Diego Times Union reports.

The series of bills are focused on the search response to find missing children. It is also designed to repair small legal gaps in the system.

As previously discussed, John Albert Gardner III is scheduled to be sentenced May 14 for the rapes and murders of Amber and Poway teen, Chelsea King.

Gardner killed Amber in February 2009, after abducting her as she walked to Escondido High School.

Amber's father, Moe Dubois, is now pushing for child sex predators to carry driver's licenses identifying them as such.

Some other states already have similar programs in place.

For example, in Delaware, the letter "Y" is included on a driver's license as a signal to officers that they are dealing with a sex offender.

In Louisiana, it's "SEX OFFENDER," written in capital orange letters, as previously discussed. State law enforcement officials have said the label on the driver's license helps to provide invaluable information.

In addition to special licenses, here are some other measures in the proposed legislative package designed to improve the child recovery safety:

  • Speed up notifications of missing children that may not qualify for a full-blown "Amber Alert" but still need quick action. This way, the report could be filed within two hours into a separate, statewide database.
  • Establish a system so that police can quickly check all registered sex offenders within a 5 mile radius of a reported abduction.
  • Create a statewide protocol for law enforcement regarding reports of missing children.  

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