For Immediate Release

Friday, May 13, 2016

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Natick Police Awarded National Certification by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

NATICK — Chief James G. Hicks is pleased to announce that the Natick Police Department has achieved the Missing Kids Readiness Project certification through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Natick is the first municipality and second agency in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to achieve this certification, joining only the Massachusetts State Police Communications Center in Framingham, MA. They now join a total of 244 agencies in the country certified by NCMEC.

To achieve this certification, all telecommunicators within the Natick Police Department’s Public Safety Communications Center took an online course called “Missing Children: Dynamics and Response.” The certification effort was spearheaded by Lead Dispatcher Charles Goodwin, who attended the NCMEC’s Missing Children Seminar for Chief Executive Officers in Alexandria, Va. last November. Dispatcher Goodwin then developed standard operating guidelines for Natick’s emergency communicators based upon the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) standard for Public Safety Telecommunicators when responding to calls for missing, abducted, and sexually exploited children.

“We are proud to have achieved this certification that is so rare among departments in Massachusetts,” Chief Hicks said. “The number of children reported lost or missing is rising at an alarming rate – and now the Natick Police Department is prepared to handle any situation of that nature that may arise.” 

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