National AMBER Alert
Awareness Day, January 13th, 2014, is set aside and memorialized in
honor of Amber Hagerman and the establishment of a national AMBER Alert Program
by the U.S. Department of Justice. This
is an appropriate time to notify the public of an important achievement by the
Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (Metro LEC). Metro LEC is a consortium of cities, towns
and sheriff departments from Massachusetts
with the goal of sharing resources among its member agencies in order to
provide the best possible police services to the community.
On July 23rd and
24th, 2013, Metro LEC conducted a “mock” child abduction drill in
the Town of Norwood . Officers from member agencies of the Metro
LEC organization mobilized and responded to Norwood to investigate a report of a missing
child. Assessors from the AMBER Program
evaluated the Metro LEC Child Abduction Response Team (Metro CART), a specialized
unit within Metro LEC. They assessed protocols
and the effectiveness of the drill, to meet standards set forth by the U.S.
Department of Justice. After completion
of the drill, Metro CART has received notification from the AMBER Program that
we have successfully met these necessary standards and will become the 19th
nationally certified CART team, and only the second northeastern state team to
receive the honor.
On February 18th,
2014, Metro LEC will be presented an award by the Department of Justice for the
national certification. This award will
be presented by Phil Keith, Program Director of the AMBER Alert Training and
Technical Assistance Program. More
information will follow regarding the award ceremony.
Metro LEC PIO
UNIT
Deputy Chief Helena Findlen Canton Police (781) 828-1214
x101 hfindlen@town.canton.us
Lt. Marie Cleary Wellesley Police (781) 235-1212 mcleary@wellesleyma.gov
Lt. Todd Jackson Norton Police (508) 285-3302 jackson@nortonpolice.com