Operation Kidsafe

to be held this weekend

at University Nissan
By Melanie Davis
Melanie@mountaintimes.com

More than 2,000 children are reported missing every day in the United States.

University Nissan, located on U.S. 421 South in Boone, will be offering a free service to families in the High Country this weekend concerning this daunting figure. They will be hosting a regional stop of the Operation Kidsafe National Safety Tour.

The program offers a free child safety kit, which includes digital fingerprints and a photograph to aid law enforcement in locating a missing child. Time is the most important factor in a child abduction case, so the faster parents can relay information about the child to law enforcement, the faster the case can move forward.

The kit will contain such information that law enforcement officers need.

Parents should be able to provide information such as the child's exact height and weight, hair and eye color, the clothing the child was wearing, lists of family members and acquaintances, routes the child is familiar with, and a current photo. Fingerprints, if available, can also aid law enforcement.

The largest percentage (43) of kidnappings are catergorized as “family kidnapping,” a situation in which a family member, primarily parents, are the perpetrator.

Other types of kidnapping are categorized as acquaintance (27 percent), involving a person unrelated but familiar with the child, and stranger kidnapping (24 percent), involving the most frightening, someone completely unknown to the child or family.

Operation Kidsafe provides a current photo and a digital fingerprint assembled into an 8 ½ x 10-inch printout given to the parent the same day. Operation Kidsafe does not maintain a database or record of the children. The only copy of the child's identification is given to the parents.

Chris Welborne, owner of University Nissan, and his wife, Jane, sought out the program to offer this service.

The business is sponsoring the cost of the bringing the digital equipment to Boone for the two-day event.

“As parents, Operation Kidsafe sounded like such a great idea, and a good customer service to offer to the area,” Jane Welborne said.

Along with the identification program, crime prevention officer Carl Underwood of the Boone Police Department will be on hand for the event.

Underwood said the department will be offering balloons and small gifts to participating children, as well as safety information for parents.

“We will be offering safety tips and crime prevention tips on a wide range of topics, from child safety to preventing identity theft for adults,” Underwood said.

The event will be held at University Nissan, located at 2462 U.S. 421 South, Boone, from 1 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 11, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12.

University Nissan can be contacted at (828) 264-7726. For more information on Operation Kidsafe, call (866) 962-5487.