Good Police Work Helps Locate a Missing Special-Needs Juvenile

Los Angeles: Police officers and detectives from several LAPD divisions worked together Monday to find a missing student with the mental capacity of an 8-year-old.

On Monday, March 6, 2006, at about 4:15 p.m., officers responded to a "Missing Child" call at Los Angeles High School, in the Mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles. One of the school’s special-needs students, a fourteen-year-old boy with Down’s Syndrome, was reported missing after he failed to board the school bus that normally takes him home.

On arrival, Wilshire area officers interviewed the on-site School Police, school personnel, and immediately set up a Command Post. A teacher’s aid told Police that the boy had a Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) bus pass with his name on it. Wilshire officers quickly notified MTA Bus Dispatch, who advised their bus drivers to be on the look-out for the boy. Meanwhile, officers and detectives searched the school and surrounding areas, employing the assistance of an LAPD K-9 handler and his five-year-old Police bloodhound "Meagan."

A short time later, an MTA bus operator notified the Command Post that a juvenile matching the missing student’s description was on her bus in Eagle Rock. A Northeast Patrol Unit went to the bus location. The Northeast Officer picked up the student and brought him back to Wilshire area, where he was interviewed by detectives. There was no evidence of foul play and the student was not harmed. He was released to his parents at Wilshire Station.

For further information, please call Wilshire Division at 213-473-0551