Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has launched an app–free and available from iTunes–designed to help parents keep their children safe, and to track them in case they suddenly go missing. It is the first mobile application launched by the Bureau. The app is currently compatible only with iPhones, the FBI’s website said, though plans are in the works to launch versions that will work on other mobile devices in the near future.
The Child ID App invites parents to store a recent photo of their child plus important information like the child’s height and weight, that can be used to help authorities look for the child if they are missing. The FBI said in a press release:
You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks.
The app also includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.
The FBI says a child goes missing every 40 seconds in America.
(image via: http://www.fbi.gov)
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Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
A Washington DC police officer, just back from maternity leave after having her second child, has been forced to take additional unpaid leave because she cannot wear the bullet-proof vest she’d need to perform street patrol duties. Officer Sashay Brown had requested a desk-based assignment while she was breastfeeding because the vest was very painful and, she said, could clog her milk ducts and affect her milk supply.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Officer Sashay Brown returned to work in May after having her second child. At first, she worked a desk job. Soon after, though, she was forced to patrol the city streets under a new department policy that was meant to force officers who had made dubious claims of health issues back to the street….
[Medical services branch director William] Sarvis said that until department doctors determine Brown is fit for full duty, she’d either have to take sick leave, or unpaid leave if she didn’t have sick days left.
“I’m just coming back from having a baby,” Brown told The Washington Examiner. “I don’t have any sick leave left.”
She and her husband are now a one-income family. Brown plans to breastfeed through her child’s first year.
“That’s a long time to be without pay,” she said. “I’m applying for short-term disability, and am hoping they allow this to be a medical condition.”
The DC police force has recently suffered high attrition rates, losing around 15 officers each month.
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