Calls from the Cops
Georgetown's Police Chief James Mulligan wants every level of defense to protect the young, elderly and disabled in town, as well as the community as a whole.
To add one more layer to the police force's ability to protect, Mulligan is introducing the "A Child Is Missing" call program, which acts like a reverse 911 system to alert the public of a missing person or emergency.
"In the past we've had incidents happen when we've felt we needed a reverse 911 system. Unfortunately, we found the cost is very expensive - in the $9,000 range to set it up and a fee each year after," said Mulligan.
But a chat with his brother, Chief William F. Mulligan of the Merrimack, N.H., Police Department, introduced Chief Mulligan to "A Child Is Missing," a totally free program that allows a community to place up to 1,000 calls to homes and businesses within 60 seconds, he said.
Chief William Mulligan and Detective Dean Killkelley of the Merrimack Police Department spoke to Georgetown officials Monday morning to explain the program and discuss their department's success with it.
Since its inception in April 2005, the station has had at least 10 incidents helped by the call service. In many of those situations, according to William Mulligan, the call service meant the difference between life and death.
A Sept. 28 incident this year was an example of that success, he said.
After police received a report of a missing 6-year-old boy who had wandered off school grounds and into the woods, they put a report out to A Child Is Missing, which then made 3,846 calls informing those nearby of the incident, said William Mulligan.
"A gentleman received the call and went out onto his deck to look around and he saw a young boy without a shirt on in the middle of the lake in his neighbor's boat. We were on the scene within minutes," he said.
"There's no question in my mind that in this particular call we probably saved that boy's life. Once he got out into the middle of the lake there's a good possibility he would've panicked and tried to get out of the boat ... This program gives us another 1,000 eyes and ears to help us," said William Mulligan.
The Merrimack Police Department has used the system to locate at least two elderly men suffering from dementia who were missing, as well as to help guide an evacuation of a condominium development during an incident involving a sniper in the area.
"Without this program, we couldn't have safely evacuated those people," he said.
Chief James Mulligan explained that the protocol is simple for getting the calls out - the police department simply calls, gives a detailed description of the missing person listing everything from appearance to medical conditions, and a message goes out to everyone in the area. Residents are then asked to look out for the person and call the police department if they have any information, explained Mulligan.
He went on to explain that if a missing person is reported traveling toward the border of town, for example, the system will also send the phone call to homes and businesses in the direction of travel, even if it's out of town.
The A Child Is Missing program will cost the town nothing - no extra phones or phone lines, and no additional personal, said Mulligan. It is funded by a variety of sources including state and federal appropriations, private and corporate donations, sponsorships and grants, he said.
Aside from speedily putting out missing person alerts, the system can also tell residents of an emergency situation in town - such as a gas leak that would require immediate evacuation, or the aforementioned real-life sniper incident in Merrimack.
The program could be in effect as early as the end of next week, said Mulligan. Signing on is as easy as making a phone call, he said.
This article originally appeared in the Georgetown Record on Thursday, Novermber 9, 2006 by M. Renee Seymour/ rseymour@cnc.com.
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