The book provides law enforcement agencies with the most current information available to guide them through a missing or runaway child dispatch. It is designed to help investigators respond quickly, expeditiously evaluate the situation, conduct an Endangerment Risk Assessment (ERA) of the child, and commence a thorough, organized investigation'starting from the moment the police are contacted. By following the guidelines in this book, those tasked with these cases can make the best possible decisions in the shortest amount of time.

The protocols and methodologies presented are based on personal police experience and statistical evidence from research and studies gathered from thousands of runaway and missing children cases. Details on those studies and their findings are provided in the appendix.

Time is of the essence in missing children cases. Make every second count.