2016 National Missing Children’s Day logo, based on a design by 2015 poster contest winner, Sydney Kekel of Grand Blanc, MI.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch opened the ceremony. Other speakers were Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Beth McGarry; OJJDP Administrator Robert L. Listenbee; John Clark, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC); retired Arlington (TX) Police Department Sergeant Mark Simpson, who was instrumental in developing and implementing the nation’s first AMBER Alert program; and Sayeh Rivazfar, a trooper with the New York State Police, advocate for crime victims, and a survivor of child abduction and sexual assault.

Attorney General Lynch presented the Attorney General’s Special Commendation to the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Phoenix (AZ) Police Department for arresting a woman who was abusing and sexually exploiting two young boys in her care, recording the abuse on her cell phone, and sharing the videos with others. Based on forensic evidence uncovered on the woman’s cell phone, the task force developed and pursued leads to others who received and shared the videotaped abuse. To date, the investigation is still open and has resulted in the arrest of more than 25 suspects across the United States and Europe.

Administrator Listenbee presented the following awards:

• Missing Children’s Law Enforcement Award. Recipient: Detective Jose DelFierro of the Irving Police Department, Irving, TX.
• OJJDP Administrator Missing Children’s Citizen Award. Recipient: Walter “Tim” Watson, a bus driver with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Fremont, CA.
• Missing Children’s Child Protection Award. Recipients: Special Investigations Program Director Ray Romo and Special Investigators Owen Hinkle and James Backfisch, Department of Family and Protective Services, San Antonio, TX.

This year marks the 17th year that OJJDP has conducted a National Missing Children's Day poster contest. The winning poster inspires the design theme for the following year. Michael Wu, a fifth grader from Walnut, CA, accepted the 2016 National Missing Children's Day Art Contest Award.

OJJDP remains committed to preventing the victimization of children. The OJJDP-supported National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) offers critical intervention and prevention services for missing and sexually exploited children. In 2015 alone, the center assisted families and law enforcement with more than 13,700 cases of missing children. OJJDP provided NCMEC $31 million in fiscal year 2015.

NCMEC also manages the day-to-day operations of the national AMBER Alert program. An AMBER Alert is issued when a law enforcement agency determines that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger. The OJJDP-administered program is credited with successfully recovering 822 missing children since 1996.

Resources:

To access resources for parents of missing and abducted children, visit the OJJDP and NCMEC websites. Information about the Office of Justice Programs' AMBER Alert program is also available online.

To read a blog by Administrator Listenbee posted in honor of National Missing Children’s Day, visit the DOJ website.

The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction: A Report to Congress is also available on the DOJ website. The report details national efforts to combat child exploitation, provides results of a threat assessment, and outlines the goals for ongoing activities—including investigations, prosecutions, outreach, victim services, and policy initiatives—to address the issue.