Computer Associates (CA) and the South African Police Services have launched a missing children`s Web site, taking technology to the community to assist in the recovery of thousands of missing kids.
Speaking at the Sandton launch this morning, Dan van der Westhuizen, CA VP for the African and Middle East region, said CA is delighted to continue its global association with the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC).
"Speed is of the essence in locating and reuniting missing children with their families," noted Van der Westhuizen.
"We have designed the site in conjunction with the police and the Bureau for Missing Persons to enable the immediate updating of the database as new cases are reported.
"We have also made use of technologies which allow us to morph the features of children as they age to give the public an accurate picture of what the child looks like over time."
CA has donated equipment and software for the initiative. The Web site utilises CA`s Ingres II e-business database management system as well as the Jasmine II e-business platform to generate Web pages.
The association with ICMEC gives South Africans access to a global database of photographs, allowing cross-border searches, something that is vitally important when dealing with the clout of international child prostitution rings.
Nancy Dube, VP and COO for ICMEC, stressed the importance photos have in locating missing children.
She said the success rate of finding children is exponential with the fast release of photographs of the children, something which is aided by the Web site`s feature of printing out poster-size pictures of the youngsters to place at banks, shopping centres, schools and the like.
Dube said the success rate of finding missing children in the US jumped from 63% to 94% with the aid of the US Web site.
SAPS assistant commissioner Piet du Toit called on the community to support the initiative.
"The community are the eyes and the ears of the police. We can increase the number of people looking for these kids from the hundred or so police officers to millions of people who are made aware of the fate of these children," said Du Toit.
"Every day, we use the technology we`ve developed to radically improve the way we do business. However, it is also imperative that we use the same technology to radically improve society as a whole," said Van der Westhuizen.
He also called on other businesses in SA to throw their weight behind the daunting task of recovering the many children who go missing every day.
More information on how companies can help can be accessed on the Web site at za.missingkids.com.
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