Missing children is an ongoing epidemic in the U.S. Last year, during the covid-19 pandemic, 365,348 children went missing – according to the FBI. In 2019, there were 421,394 missing children. It is a shocking and deeply saddening statistic. It is unbelievably large.
Security guards are now being trained to be on the lookout for missing children – joining the fight with police and law enforcement agencies to identify and rescue missing kids. One of the largest security companies in the U.S., Securitas North America, has recently partnered with the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to develop and enact missing children training programs for 100,000 security guards.
The fusion between Securitas and NCMEC provides security officers access to focused training to identify situations that may involved missing and exploited children, then reporting these observations to law enforcement to support recovery. Geotargeted posters of missing children will also be sent out to Securitas officers. The training program cooperation is planned to be in place for three years.