Authorities promote kid ID kits
By Jeff Gallatin
Westshore
Published Aug. 15, 2007

Area law enforcement and business officials are pulling together to form a safety net to keep the fledgling Operation Child Protect moving forward.

Sherwin-Williams officials gave project officials $10,000 at a breakfast reception the company hosted last week for various city, county and federal law enforcement officials involved in the project, which is designed to provide free child identification kits and educational materials to parents in Cuyahoga County.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason and the FBI have been leading the area effort to get the kits put together. In addition, Lt. Mark Spaetzel, head of the Bay Village City Police Detective Bureau, spoke at the event about dealing with child abduction cases and his department’s continued efforts to solve the 1989 Amy Mihaljevic abduction and murder case.

Mason said the project backers have a goal of getting identification kits for the more than 38,700 children in Cuyahoga County who are enrolled in kindergarten through second grade.

“It’s an important project designed to provide vital information which would provide crucial information in any instance where a child is taken,” Mason said.

Each kit would contain an identification card and packet containing a current photograph with information about the child’s height, weight, eye color and other personal information. It also would contain a fingerprint card and a DNA sample with a buccal swab from the youngster.

“We want to have pertinent information which would make a difference and offer immediate assistance to law enforcement officials working on the case,” Mason said.

Project officials said each kit would cost $6.84 and are estimating they would need to raise $264,762.72 to get kits for current kindergarten-through-second-grade students in Cuyahoga County.

Spaetzel said the kits would be invaluable for any police department.

“It would save a lot of time to already have that on hand,” he said. “It would help the investigation by having crucial identification information ready for officers to use.”

In addition to officers having the information as they look for the child, it also could be sent out to the news media, who in turn could inform the public, Spaetzel said.

Bay Village Police Chief David Wright said the information could help officers stop an incident quickly.

“If we could get that fast, someone could see the youngster and let the police know,” he said. “It could make a difference and allow officers to be able to get the child before being taken away from the area.”

Wright noted that the Parma City Police have already done some work with the program. As a result, he sent four Bay Village officers over to learn about the program and how to implement it.

“It’s something we would like to move on fast as soon as they start establishing the program throughout the county,” Wright said.

Other area departments also are interested.

North Olmsted Police Chief Wayne Wozniak said his department is very interested in the program.

“We received one letter about it,  and it’s something we would like to implement in our area as well,” Wozniak said. “It’s something the police could do in cooperation with the schools in the area. Plus, when you have the information in your community, you can pass it onto communities as well.”