A team from social media giant, Facebook, is scheduled to visit Jamaica next month for the official launch of a partnership with the Ministry of Education to broadcast “Ananda Alerts” – the system used to report missing children.
“This partnership will enable the broadcast of Ananda Alerts on the pages of all Facebook users in Jamaica, which will ensure that we have a larger pool searching for our children when they go missing,” said Floyd Green, the Minister of State in the Education Ministry.
Green made the revelation during his contribution to the 2017/2018 Sectoral Debate in Parliament earlier this month.
The Ananda Alert system for reporting missing children was launched on May 19, 2009.
It was named in honor of Ananda Dean, an 11-year-old student of a Corporate Area school who went missing on September 17, 2008. The two-week search for her ended in despair as her headless, decomposing body was found in bushes.
The system was devised in the hopes of increasing the chances of recovering missing children by getting information out to the public faster.
Under the Ananda Alert programme, when a child goes missing, a report is made to the nearest police station or by calling 119. The police will then alert all Ananda Alert stakeholders including the media houses, mobile companies, local authorities, parish councils; and these will then mobilize community groups.
After 12-hours, photos of the missing child will be placed on electronic/mobile billboards, in shops, supermarkets, community centre, church halls, schools and post offices.
The plight of missing children, will be one of several issues to be addressed by recently appointed Jamaican Commissioner of Police, George Quallo, who will assume office on April 18. His appointment was announced earlier this week by National Security Minister Robert Montague. Quallo is a former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) who enlisted in the Jamaica Constabulary Force on November 29, 1976.
Quallo says his mandate is to enhance the security services to the country, improving public order, reducing corruption and improving accountability across the force. The new Commissioner will also be tasked to implement a comprehensive succession planning process for the Directorate of Constabulary.
