NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday
August 6, 2008
|
Contact:
Ken Hofmaster/President & COO
SafeAssured ID – (715) 848-5263
khofmaster@safeassured-id.com
NCMEC Communications Department
(703) 837-6111
media@ncmec.org |
SafeAssured ID and the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children® remind Families to Discuss Safety as Kids Head Back to School
Back-to-School safety tips offer advice to parents, guardians
and their children
Wausau, WI and Alexandria, VA – As
millions of children take to the streets and roadways to head back to school
this fall, SafeAssured ID and the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children (NCMEC) urge parents and guardians to make child safety a priority. In
addition to reminding families of the importance of keeping an up-to-date
digital photo of their children, SafeAssured ID will be featuring “Back
to School” safety tips from NCMEC child safety experts on their website
at www.safeassured-id.com.
The tips recognize that parents and guardians may need some help discussing
child safety and are meant to empower them to start this conversation with
their children to prepare for a safer school year. Tips include:
- Instruct your child to always take a friend when walking or riding
his or her bike to and from school.
- If anyone bothers your child while going to or from school, you should
teach him or her to get away from that person, and tell you
or another trusted adult.
- Teach your children to never leave school with anyone they don’t
know.
“Children do not have the same frame of reference for safety as adults
and that’s why it’s important to work on helping them develop
strong safety skills,” said Nancy A. McBride, NCMEC’s National
Safety Director. “We would like to see families make talking about
child safety part of their regular back-to-school routine like shopping
for school supplies, and we are grateful to SafeAssured ID for helping us
put this information in the hands of parents, guardians and children all across
the country.”
SafeAssured ID first partnered with NCMEC in 2003 and the partnership has
long emphasized the power of digital photographs and child IDs in the search
for a missing child. Designed to provide peace of mind for families,
while protecting privacy, the SafeAssured ID kit contains an encrypted
mini-cd including:
- up to ten digital fingerprints,
- digital photograph,
- streaming video showing mannerisms and gait,
- voice track providing the youth’s voice inflection and accent,
- general physical description,
- vital personal information (street address, date of birth, life-threatening
medical conditions, identifying scars or marks, and tattoos), and
- family code word.
The mini-cd can be shared with law enforcement, the media, and the
community within moments of a child’s disappearance to aid in the search. Families
also receive a durable, full-color photo ID card, and a Parents Guidebook,
written in conjunction with NCMEC, containing helpful safety information.
“NCMEC plays an extremely valuable role in keeping our children safer,” said
Ken Hofmaster, President of SafeAssured ID. “We are proud to
share their commitment to that mission and hope that every family will take
the time to review these tips before sending their children off to school. It
has always been our hope that every child would have access to SafeAssured
ID technology, but never need to use it.”
About SafeAssured™
SafeAssured ID is a comprehensive, technologically advanced family safety
program. In the event that a person disappears, SafeAssured ID provides
families with the power to deliver media and law enforcement with immediate,
holistic, and ready to broadcast information unique to the missing person.
In addition to a digital photo and personal profile, SafeAssured differs from
other identification solutions by offering a full set of digital fingerprints,
voice sample, and streaming video showing movement and gait. The information
is stored on a disc that is secured with a locked electronic code. The
SafeAssured ID kit meets the Best Practices set by the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children for Child Identification Kits.
SafeAssured ID kits can be offered in conjunction with any event where
families are present, whether public or private. The program is a newsworthy
community service and attracts sponsorship by providing a high level of return
in public relations. www.safeassured-id.com
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984,
the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children’s
hotline which has handled more than 2.3 million calls. It has assisted
law enforcement in the recovery of more than 128,750 children. The
organization’s CyberTipline has handled more than 600,000 reports of
child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has
reviewed and analyzed more than 14,750,000 child pornography images and videos. The
organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s
office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more
about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit
its web site at www.missingkids.com. |
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