Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OREM — No parent wants to learn their child is missing. But when the minutes count, just about anything to help speed up the search process is a good thing.
On Friday, members of the Orem Police Department are hoping parents can prepare for such a stressful situation by handing out national child identification kits to families during Orem's Summerfest.
Orem police Sgt. Darcy Simmons said the national child ID kits help speed up the search process greatly in the case a child ever goes missing with basic and important information.
The kits have a fingerprint card as well as an option for a DNA sample. The kits also hold other information, like one's name, address and physical description.
The hope is that parents keep a kit on file so if there's ever an incident where they need to provide that information to police, they'll be able to easily find it and hand it off for a more efficient search.
"It's important to have information quick and accessible. In a missing child's case, time is extremely important. You can imagine how flustered and excited a parent is going to be about things," Simmons said.
Simmons added they're giving the kits to as many people as they can.
He said at Summerfest they have about 2,000 kids come to their booth, so they use that opportunity to hand out kits to families.
The kits are for anyone ages 4-18, but Simmons said it's a good idea to have one for any member of the family.
