Have you seen these children?

The UK Missing & Exploited Children Web Site has linked with Tesco to raise awareness of the issue of missing children. The man behind the website, Chief Inspector Tim Bonnett, speaks to iVillage

The young, smiling faces are heartbreaking. Looking out from dozens of photographs, they recall a happier time, a moment lost in history. Few could have known that their pictures would soon grace the pages of a missing children website. Many of those featured have been abducted by an estranged parent; others have left home over arguments or conflict. Many will now be involved in prostitution, drugs or crime.

They are all featured on the police-led UK Missing & Exploited Children Web Site - http://uk.missingkids.com. The good news is that half of them will eventually be found. And attempts to find the rest will continue.

The background
Based on an idea from America, the UK missing children's website is dedicated to reuniting missing children with their families. Using the site's technology, posters of missing children can be produced quickly and easily for distribution by police forces around the country and abroad, as well as concerned members of the public.

Supported by the charity Parents & Abducted Children Together (PACT) and hosted by Computer Associates, it is the only UK site of its kind approved by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office.

Pioneering
The importance of the website should not be underestimated. Before the site was launched, it was impossible to move pictures of missing children quickly and easily from one police force to another - the police national computer for England and Wales has no image capability. By the time the original force could print and courier the photographs to the next force, the child may have been taken out of the country or have gone to ground.

  • Over the page: high-profile cases

    The translation technology that the site also offers - 20 different languages, including Mandarin Chinese and Urdu - also allows police in other countries to instantly download posters for immediate use. 'Children, particularly abducted children, cross international boundaries,' says Chief Inspector Tim Bonnett. 'It is internationally important that we have the means of getting the pictures of the children to wherever they are going in the hope that someone will recognise them.'

    High-profile cases
    The site has featured some very prominent cases. Among the most famous was that of tragic Sarah Payne. 'When Sarah's picture went on site, we had several sightings,' says Chief Insp Bonnett. 'Early on, there was a sighting of her in Cheshire. We contacted all the forces between Sussex and Cheshire and put up posters at every single service station between the two. Those posters came from our site. They were literally done overnight. It would have taken days or weeks to do them using the old system.'

    One child still on site is Ben Needham, possibly the most famous missing child in Britain. Ben was just 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

    'Since we had the age progression software on site, we've had two people, both on holiday, who thought they had seen him - one in the Balkans, another on a Greek Island. Both sightings have been followed up but nothing has come of them. It is still regarded as an active case.'

    Age progression
    Specialised age progression software, which enables the police to take a picture of a young child kidnapped years ago and predict how he would look now, is one of the site's key weapons. 'We take a photograph of a near relative at the same age as the child is now, generally a parent, and blend it with the age progression software. Generally they can be very accurate, unless something unusual has happened in their growth.

  • Over the page: success rates

    'It is all based on the principle that, by the age of two, a person's eyes are as large as they are going to get. It acts as a reference point.'

    Age progression has already proved its value. 'One of our cases was a child missing from London. Since we have done the age progression, he has been identified in Tenerife. There is currently legal action going on to get him back again. He was two when he went missing. He would now be seven.'

    Success rates
    So far the website has featured 75 children. Of those, half have been found. In the US, where the website has been running for longer, the success rate is 91 per cent. That's partly because children go on site at a much earlier stage than in the UK and because posters of missing children, such as the ones now being launched in Tesco, are everywhere in the States - in supermarkets, bus and train stations and airports.

    'A key part of the success in America is that a lot of children go missing because they don't think their parents care about them. They see the posters and see themselves and think "Maybe they do want me back. They do want to find me."

    'It gives a message to the children that they are wanted back home. That is why the Tesco campaign could prove so valuable.'

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