Tri County Child Abduction Response Team Organized

“Leave your egos at the door and work together to do everything you can to find that missing child!” These were the words spoken by Patty Wetterling at a June 2015 training to members of the new Child Abduction Response Team (CART) from Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara counties. Mrs. Wetterling is from Minnesota and lost her son Jacob over 25 years ago. He was riding his bike on a road near their home in Minnesota with 2 other children when a man stopped them and abducted Jacob. He has never been found. Mrs. Wetterling shared the pain and anguish of living through this nightmare and how important it is for investigators to be prepared to respond as quickly as possible when a child is missing.

   Detective Patti Crump from the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office is coordinating the CART efforts. “We are very committed to training our local partners so we can respond quickly to safely recover a missing, endangered or abducted child. This training demonstrated the importance of preparing in advance to have all our resources ready so we can immediately take action,” said Detective Crump.

   The four day training, held June 1-4, 2015, included current research on missing and abducted children and how to better understand what types of things that may be encountered during an investigation. Several case studies were examined by the group to determine what factors helped or inhibited solving a case. The group examined strategies on how to successfully use local, state and national resources including Amber Alert, Team Adam, and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. All of these organizations can provide expertise and resources and many of these organizations are spearheaded by parents who have had a child abducted.

    The four day training also included professionals from Law Enforcement, Probation and Parole, Health and Human Services, DNR, Emergency Management, K-9 Units and more. The group became aware of the fact that many of these abductions can go on for a very long time. It is very important to use other local community volunteers as well. If you are interested in becoming a trained volunteer for the Child Abduction Response Team or other disaster-related emergencies, contact Kathy Munsey at the Green Lake County Department of Health and Human Services at 920-294-4070 or sign up at https://weavrwi.org and complete the registration. Ask to join the Green Lake County Department of Health and Human Services organization.