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The FBI's Child ID App Putting Safety in Your Hands

08/05/11

You're shopping at the mall with your children when one of them suddenly disappears. A quick search of the nearby area is unsuccessful. What do you do?

Now there's a new tool from theFBIthat can help. Our just launched Child IDapp—the first mobileapplication created by theFBI—provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on theapp, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks. There is no charge for theapp.

Theappalso includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.

The FBI's new Child ID app can be downloaded for free from theApp Store on iTunes. Download App | View Gallery
Podcast: About the Child ID App

You're shopping at the mall with your children when one of them suddenly disappears. A quick search of the nearby area is unsuccessful. What do you do?

Now there's a free new tool from the FBI that can help. Our just launched Child ID app—the first mobile application created by the FBI—provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks.

The app also includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.

We encourage you to share the word about this app with family and friends, especially during upcoming activities in your communities to raise awareness on crime and drug prevention. For its part, the FBI is working to publicize the app with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA)—its long-time partner in the National Child Identification Program, which provides a physical kit to gather your child’s pictures, fingerprints, personal characteristics, and even DNA to keep with you in case of emergency. The AFCA is producing a public service announcement about the app and will spread the word at various football games during the upcoming season.

Right now, the Child ID app is only available for use on iPhones and can only be downloaded for free from the App Store on iTunes, but we plan to expand this tool to other types of mobile devices in the near future. And we’ll be adding new features—including the ability to upload other photos stored on your smart phone—in the coming weeks and months.

Feel free to use this poster to promote the app. Download a high resolution version.

An important note: the FBI (and iTunes for that matter) is not collecting or storing any photos or information that you enter in the app. All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities. Please read your mobile provider’s terms of service for information about the security of applications stored on your device.

Put your child’s safety in your own hands. Download the FBI’s Child ID app today.

Resources:
- FBI Child ID app on iTunes
- FBI's Crimes Against Children website

CrimeReports: Crime mapping comes to St. Clair County

The residents of St. Clair County, Illinois now have free access to official, timely crime data on the Department’s Website: www.mysheriff.us. This is possible thanks to a partnership with CrimeReports, creators of the National Crime Map, at www.CrimeReports.com. This service gives the public access to the most accurate street-level crime and sex offender information available.

St. Clair County 911 and St. Clair County Data Processing worked closely with the Sheriff’s Department to provide this service. Information is updated once every 24 hours directly through the dispatcher’s terminals. Addresses have been modified to show the nearest block for each reported activity, not the actual address.

This service allows our investigators to understand crime trends, share up-to-date information with the public, and receive valuable intelligence from the community; necessary tools to help improve community safety. The public can access the crime map, create or join neighborhood groups and share information with their neighbors and with the Sheriff’s Department.

Providing reliable, timely information to our citizens is one of our top priorities. Partnering with CrimeReports gives us the ability to keep the public informed on a regular basis as to what’s going on in the community. The public can access the map 24 hours a day through the website or through the CrimeReports iPhone app, available for free download in the apple iTunes store. An Android app is under development. The new service even allows residents to sign up for free customizable email alerts, so they can stay on top of crime in their neighborhood. Information is power, and giving the community this information will help prevent crime in their neighborhoods.

The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department is joining over 1,600 other law enforcement agencies of all sizes across North America who are sharing their crime information with the public through the map, like Baltimore, Boston, San Jose, San Francisco, Portland, Washington D.C., Los Angeles County and more.

You can access your local crime map and sign up for daily, weekly, or monthly email crime reports at www.mysheriff.us .

Click on the CrimeReports icon on this page to go directly to the map.

The Exterminator

The Exterminator

Sheriff’s Department Introduces “The Exterminator” to Shame Suspects

Belleville, Ill.  – The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department has an innovative, low-budget way to fight crime. Park an unmanned, rebuilt armored truck, complete with video cameras, digital recorders and live streaming video, in front of the dwellings of troublemakers. 

Local law enforcement on Twitter

Who’s on Twitter? We are!

What is twitter?

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."

Twitter is more than that. It is a way to build a community, join us….

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