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One of the projects of SACMEC is the
establishment of a pro-active data base that
will be used to gather identifying
information about children in South Africa.
Photographs and basic information of
children will be gathered and stored in a
secure database at SACMEC. This upfront
available data
will assist in speeding up
the distribution of information when a child
is reported missing.
A touch of a button will speedily send this
missing child's data to all sectors of the
media, police departments and other relevant
stakeholders and into the community. The
availability of a Poster generator flash
facility on the server, will enable law
enforcement agencies and parents to print
posters directly from the Internet, for
distribution.
The problem that exists in SA is that up to
the age of sixteen there is no
identification on any child. When the birth
is registered an identification number is
allocated, but they are only issued an ID
book at sixteen years old, upon application.
In the scenario in which a child is lost,
reported to the Police as missing and where
a crime is committed and a body eventually
recovered, there is no easy way to link the
body with a missing person report.
According to Captain Fanie van Deventer,
President of SACMEC and Head of the
Bureau f or Missing Persons (BMP), the BMP
currently has approximately 860 children
under the age of 18 years on the database,
still missing.
If this figure is deducted from the
approximately 60 000 street children in SA,
it is evident that there is a massive under
reporting of missing children in SA.
SACMEC intends to register all these street
children on this pro-active database. This
better tracking and distribution system will
result in the enhanced allocation of social
development resources. It will also help to
establish whether children are on the street
due to socio-economic circumstances or out
of their own free will. Once such a database
is established all these children become
found children and the search for their
parents and families can commence.
The database will help in raising awareness
and assisting in the quick distribution of
information and photographs of missing
persons which is important in ensuring that
there is a reduced likelihood that these
same persons are not subject to crime or
elements of crime.
The database information gathering will be
done at
various centres which will be made known to
the public.
Database security is of paramount
importance. The data supplied will be
safeguarded using the eTrust software
donated by
Computer Associates and will ensure that the
data is kept safe by using the latest
security features to prevent unlawful access
to this information. Only authorised
personnel at SACMEC will be able to access
this data.
This project will also help with the
awareness of SACMEC and its stated
objectives and increase the probability of
finding a child alive.
This database will also be utilised by
SACMEC to regularly communicate with
children and to make them aware of the new
threats against their safety.
Data gathered and stored on this database
will never be made available for any
commercial enterprise and will only be
distributed by SACMEC once verified and if
the parents or guardians of the child has
signed a power of attorney, giving SACMEC
permission to distribute such information
and photos. |
