NewsLocal News

Actions

FBI urges parents to download app focused on finding missing children

Posted

SALT LAKE CITY — The F.B.I. is urging all parents to download and utilize the Child I.D. app.

The app allows parents to upload a current photo of each of their children along with vital identifying statistics like height, weight, hair color and defining features.

In the event a child goes missing, a parent can easily forward the photograph and information to authorities conducting the search.

“It’s only a tool for the parents to store the information so they’re prepared,” said David Crawford, assistant special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Salt Lake City office. “It is there at your fingertips in the event something happens and you need the police to know about it and have that information about your children.”

Crawford adds any information stored in the app is only available to authorities once a parent hits send.

It is recommended parents update photos and information in the app every six months.

Time is critical in cases of missing children. Parents and guardians are urged to waste no time in contacting the police if they are concerned for the safety of their loved ones.

“The closer in time we are to an event occurring and we are notified, the better off we are in the investigation,” Crawford said.