The actress playing the victim set up a trail before the start of the mock scenario.
A portion of South Mountain Reservation was closed last week for a child abduction simulation exercise designed to test and strengthen the response and coordination of law enforcement personnel to such an event.
A realistic scenario involving a 12-year-old autistic girl who went missing in the park was created for the event: The girl and a friend were riding their bikes together before stopping at a McDonalds where the 12 year old met a man and left with him.
An actual girl, who was a family friend of a high ranking member of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, was enlisted to play the role of the girl. There were also volunteers playing the roles of bystanders and witnesses who, as sometimes happens in real life cases, gave investigators bad information that they had to sort through in an effort to find the truth.
The scenario began with the West Orange Police Department getting a call from the girl’s mother after her friend reported to the mother that the girl had left with a man and gone missing.
Before the drill began, a police officer walked the girl, who sometimes rode her bike and sometimes walked, through a circuitous route through the park, creating a trail.
As they would in a real case, police first checked the security footage at the McDonald’s.
The footage helped them locate witnesses who provided key information concerning the suspect’s vehicle, including its color, make and model.
A command post was set up in the Tulip Springs picnic area of the reservation. Personnel from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit, the Sheriff’s Office, the Office of Emergency Management and the West Orange Police Department all arrived at the scene, bringing with them various equipment, including mobile command posts, ATVs, drones and tracking dogs.
As in a real life scenario, a briefing was given by a Sheriff’s officer and a West Orange Police Department officer with details about the case and the missing girl. The girl was described as 11 or 12, wearing black leggings and a pink top.
“There is no greater fear for a prosecutor or parent than a child going missing,” said Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of Detectives Mitchell G. McGuire.
There are about three to four cases of a missing child each year in Essex County, McGuire said.
“Sometimes it’s a custody case, sometimes not,” he said.
All told there were about 45 law enforcement personnel on scene including four from the West Orange Police Department. The people in the Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit were there and they have special training in how to talk to children in a way that puts them at ease and helps get the important information, McGuire said.
A drone took off into the sky and eventually located the suspect’s vehicle near the reservoir dam.
A K-9 brought to the scene picked up on the victim’s scent trail while detectives located a key piece of evidence – the victim’s cellphone – in the woods.
A forensic examination of the cell phone revealed the suspect’s phone number. Detectives also learned the suspect had befriended the victim by posing as a 13-year-old boy on social media and had lured her to the park.
The suspect and the victim were subsequently located by officers and drones during a canvass of the reservoir’s walkways. The girl was then rescued and reunited with her parents.
Essex County Sheriff Amir D. Jones and Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II were both on hand for the drill.
Stephens said collaboration among the different agencies is critically important.
“Training is what this is all about,” Stephens said. “Everybody will know how they are supposed to act.”
Jones said it was important for the various agencies to practice working together.
“Collaboration, our working together, being on the same page, time is of the essence in a situation like this,” Jones said.
The simulation was monitored by the National Criminal Justice Center of Fox Valley Technical College as the county was seeking a prestigious Child Abduction Response Team Certification.
“Parents should know we are doing our best to prepare for a situation like this,” Stephens said.
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