Dispatcher describes local CART program

Dispatcher describes local CART program

A high-profile Florida crime was the impetus for the program.

By SEAN BARRON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

McDONALD — About every 40 seconds, a child in the United States goes missing or is abducted.

About 74 percent of children kidnapped by strangers are murdered three hours or less after being abducted, and an estimated 1.3 million children are missing in the country.

Those were among the grim statistics Jim Luonuansuu presented during a talk he gave at Wednesday’s village council meeting, as he described details of a local Child Abduction Response Team.

Luonuansuu, a dispatcher for the Lordstown and Newton Falls police departments, said CART is made up of trained public safety people and others from various agencies who assist police in responding to missing, endangered and at-risk children.

Village Police Chief Lou Ronghi said he supports the effort, and his would be among the departments that CART would assist.

The 120-member Trumbull County team is one of 20 across the state that provides added resources to local and regional police departments responding to children who are missing, potential victims of foul play and sexual abuse, in life-threatening situations and other emergencies, he told council.

Resources include added manpower, investigators, experts in sex-related crimes, mobile command centers and air patrols, Luonuansuu noted. If a child is reported missing, CART will put out pre-broadcast messages to get as many people mobilized as quickly as possible, he continued.

CART got under way more than three years ago in response to the high-profile kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota, Fla., he said. The crime was caught on videotape and the girl’s body was found on the property of a nearby church.

In other business, Councilman Richard Harvey announced an informational meeting set for 7 p.m. March 18 at Roosevelt Elementary for those interested in learning more about a federal Safe Routes to School program.

Information about the program also will be available at a book fair, set for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the school.

Village officials have applied for about $250,000 of the federal grant, disbursed through the Ohio Department of Transportation, to build sidewalks near the two schools for pupils’ added safety, Harvey said.