This newsletter of the U.S. Justice Department's (DOJ's) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for May/June 2009 reports on DOJ's observance of Missing Children's Day, training to improve interactions between law enforcement and adolescent girls, an AMBER Alert update for Indian Country, an overview of OJJDP's Statistical Briefing Book, and summaries of new publications.
DOJ commemorated the 26th annual National Missing Children's Day on May 21, 2009, with a ceremony at DOJ's Great Hall in Washington, DC. The ceremony honored missing children and recognized the extraordinary efforts made by law enforcement personnel and citizens to protect children from harm. Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden was the main speaker, and Office of Justice Programs Acting Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson presided over the ceremony. The ceremony was attended by families of missing and abducted children, law enforcement personnel, and missing children's advocates. Photos from the ceremony are provided. The newsletter also reports on a pilot program conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police on April 27-29, 2009, entitled "Law Enforcement Response to Adolescent Girls." This was a training course designed to instruct law enforcement personnel on the best ways to approach and interact with adolescent girls during police calls. Details on course goals and attendance are provided. The AMBER Alert update for Indian Country reports on an evaluation of operations and plans for bilingual training for U.S.-Mexico border States. The evaluation concluded that inadequacies in communications and information-management technology significantly hamper the ability of Tribal law enforcement agencies to respond to reports of missing, abducted, and endangered children and other life-threatening emergencies. The report on OJJDP's Statistical Briefing Book - an online tool that features current statistics about juvenile crime and victimization - provides a wealth of information for practitioners, policymakers, the media, and the public.