Lake Twp.:Police dept. to start missing children program

The Lake Township Police Department is seeking to establish a new program to help locate missing children and teens from Northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan and the Cleveland area.
The project, which has been in the planning stages for the past few months, involves placing bulletin boards at several of the truck refueling stations in the township and posting photos and information on missing youngsters. It is hoped truckers visiting the stations might recognize a child or teen and contact authorities to provide that information.
Police chief Mark Hummer noted his department is in a unique position to roll out the effort to locate missing children and teens.
“We have several truck refueling stations in our township, and truckers get around,” chief Hummer said. “Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for some of these missing kids to end up being involved in human trafficking.”
The chief said his department will target youngsters missing from the area, working with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children to keep the most up-to-date information posted on the boards.
“Because we have the Ohio turnpike interchange in our township, we know there is also a good possibility missing children from the Cleveland area could end up here. That is why those kids will also be a focus of the program,” chief Hummer said.
The police department has already approached management personnel from all the local refueling stations to promote the program.
“We have garnered the support of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” chief Hummer said. “Also on board are Truckers Against (Human) Trafficking, and the Toledo Trucking Association.”
Keeping posters on the bulletin boards fresh and relevant will be the responsibility of the police department’s crime prevention and community policing officer, chief Hummer noted.
“He will keep track of the posters and rotate them on a regular basis to optimize the exposure of all the missing children. He will remove posters of those who have been located and put up new ones for those recently reported missing,” he said.
Each board will have attached to it, a sign informing those who see it, that the establishment is joining the police department in the effort to locate the missing youths and will have a phone number to report any information they may have.
Call 419-481-6354 for more details.