FBI iPhone App Helps Parents of Missing Children
Even government agencies are making smartphone "apps" now. The FBI's iPhone app, Child ID, was released last week.
What's the purpose of the FBI's new application?
Child ID allows parents to store information on their children such as height, weight, gender, date of birth, hair and eye color and whether or not they have piercings. The application will also allow parents to store a child's photos.
The application is meant to help parents and law enforcement if tragedy strikes and a child goes missing.
The stored information on the iPhone application can easily be e-mailed to law enforcement with just a few clicks, according to the application's description. None of the information stored onto the application will be transmitted unless the user chooses to do so, The Daily Mail reports.
Much of the application seems to echo the advice of what the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children advises parents to do if their child goes missing. Specifically, parents should call their local law enforcement agency and provide them with information about their children including their physical description and what they were wearing when they went missing.
About 800,000 children go missing in the U.S. every year, which accounts to more than 2,000 children a day, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
While parents can try to be as vigilant as possible when keeping track of their children, sometimes it's impossible to prevent something from happening.
And, if something terrible does happen, and your child goes missing, maybe Child ID, the FBI iPhone app, can at least prove useful. For parents who are going through a stressful missing child episode, maybe having all the information down in an easily accessible medium can aid law enforcement.
Related Resources:
- Lost your child? The FBI have an app for that... but are forced to insist they're not SPYING on you (Daily Mail)
- Missing Mo. Girl Found at Car Wash (FindLaw Blotter)
- Zahra Baker: Missing Girl's Remains Identified (FindLaw Blotter)