US – A campaign to locate missing children organised by the Washington State patrol is targeted at finding waifs and strays in the Pacific North West State by utilising photographs on the sides of rigs. American Trucking Associations member Gordon Trucking, a local less than truck load (LTL)freight carrier has donated over 70 trailers to the campaign which is called Homeward Bound. At present, the state patrol has 19 missing children in the program. Each child has its own poster that includes the name of the child, contact information for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and two photos – one from the time of disappearance and another that is age-progressed.
Washington State has approximately 1,800 missing children cases at any given time, and on a national level about 1.3 million children go missing each year. The Washington State Patrol hopes to work with neighbouring states to expand the Homeward Bound Program as soon as possible.
“The Washington State Patrol approached us in the spring of 2006 about posting photos of missing children on our trailers,” said Chief Operating Officer Steve Gordon. “As a locally owned and operated company, we were happy to help the state and the communities that Gordon Trucking serves.”
“The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that 1 in 6 children are successfully recovered due to the public viewing a picture,” said Washington State Patrol Missing Persons Unit Manager Luci Stewart. “Because people spend so much of their lives in their vehicles, this was naturally a great way to reach them.”
“Since the program’s beginning, three children that the state patrol featured on our trailers have been found alive,” said Gordon. “Although the State Patrol cannot directly attribute this success to the posters, Gordon Trucking’s involvement in the program has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my professional career.”
http://www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/docs/mupu/homeward_bound.pdf
