Press Release Issued by the Oregon State Police:
The disappearance of missing 7-year old Kyron Horman has led to an unprecedented demand for child ID kits, according to the Oregon State Police Missing Children’s Clearinghouse program manager.
Oregon State Police (OSP) Missing Children Program Manager Judy Hayes confirmed that the interest level is the highest it has ever been during the 11 years that the free child ID kits have been made available to the public. In response to requests this week alone, Hayes said she has sent out child ID kits to people in Oregon and other states including Virginia, Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, South Dakota, and Rhode Island, as well as to Canada.
Hayes believes the unprecedented demand is directly attributed to the ongoing national and local media coverage related to missing Kyron Horman. Most are individual requests for 1 or 2 kits, but some are coming from community groups and businesses. Since 1999, over 220,000 ID kits, which are available in English and Spanish, have been distributed by OSP Missing Children’s Clearinghouse in Oregon.
“The ID kits are literally flying out of our office, but it is great to know they are going into the hands of people that can use them and want them,” said Hayes.
The Child Complete Identification and DNA Kits is not a budgeted item of the Oregon State Police. Last year, over 22,000 ID kits were purchased after $14,750 was raised during the 11th Annual Oregon State Police “Missing Children Golf Benefit”. The kits only take a few minutes to fill out, are non-intrusive and contain valuable information including a place for a photograph, medical information, personal information, DNA cheek swab sample, fingerprints (self inking strip included), dental information and physical description. Once completed, the kit can be sealed in a zip lock bag and kept in easily accessible, safe place.
Sponsored by the OSP Foundation, the “Missing Children Golf Benefit” is a 4-person scramble format limited to 30 teams that donate $500 ($125 per player) to participate. A few openings remain for this year’s golf benefit on July 19th at Creekside Golf Club in Salem. The local summertime golf benefit raises money to purchase Child Complete Identification and DNA Kits that are distributed free to anyone to help police in the event a child becomes missing.
According to Oregon’s Missing Children’s Clearinghouse program, there are approximately 800 kids under the age of 18 listed in LEDS/NCIC as missing of which about 92 percent are runaways, 4 – 5 percent are victims of custodial interference, and the remaining are missing under unknown circumstances.
Anyone interested in helping raise funds to purchase more Child ID kits by playing in the golf benefit can contact Judy Hayes, OSP Missing Children Program Manager, by calling 503-934-0188, or outside Salem call 1-800-282-7155.
Child Complete Identification and DNA Kits are available to order by email at [email protected] . Information about the Missing Children’s Clearinghouse is available on the OSP website at http://www.oregon.gov/OSP/MCC/index.shtml.
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