Study Visit to Prague under ICAAS Project for Outlining the Czech Child Abdcution Alert System and Methods

The meeting organized under the Project  Italian Child Abduction Alert System (ICAAS), was conducted by the Head of Department for Crime Prevention and focussed on the presentation of the alert system and its connection to radio and TV communications and mobile network operators. The goal is to provide, through people’s support, a tool that may allow for increasing the chances of tracing a child within a few hours following the abduction. It has to be emphasized that the Czech alert system used in the case of child kidnapping which is still to be finalized, had been presented in Prague on 19 May 2009, and will be definitively activated in May 2010.
In the Czech Republic, the media are obliged by law to collaborate in the case of events threatening public security. This tool is considered to be particularly effective when mobile network information is launched within a limited territorial area, namely in proximity of the place where the child abduction has occurred, so that the public is promptly informed.
Given the delicate subject of merit, particular attention is dedicated to the psychological support to be given to the victims and their families; moreover, training courses for the personnel operating in the field are also foreseen. According to the Czech authorities, this aspect should contribute, in a relevant manner, to shortening the gap between Police Forces and the civil population by strengthening reciprocal trust, as strongly desired by central authorities.
At the conclusion of the panel discussion, a “case type” and the statistics concerning past cases of child abduction were outlined, so as to provide indications and expectations deriving from the use of the tool. According to the data reported, a more intensive utilization of the tool has been foreseen compared to those countries which have already experimented the Child Alert system, although only the actual application may give definitive answers.
The cycle of study visits was closed by this visit in Prague. The international conference held on 24 March in Rome represents a key steps for defining the procedures to be adopted by the Italian system.