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911 dispatchers in a Metro-Indy county receive special training to handle missing kids cases

Posted at 10:17 PM, Apr 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-16 22:17:51-04

INDIANAPOLIS — Emergency dispatchers in one metro-Indianapolis county are now one of the most equipped in the state to handle cases of missing children.

The Hancock County 911 Center is now certified with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Missing Kid Readiness Program. Hancock County is the sixth dispatch center in the state of Indiana with this designation.

"When you go through that class - there are parents there that have been through events, and they tell their story and how important it is to make sure these situations are handled very well," John Jokantas, Hancock County 911 Director, said. "Because with the dispatch center - we start it all. We would hate for the outcome of an incident like this to come up poorly because we did not do our job."

It took dispatchers a month to get the training to be certified with the NCMEC.

This is not to say that other counties are not prepared to handle missing kids - they are. Although, Hancock County has specialized training in this area.