Missing children

Police put all hands on deck

By: Joseph Harvie
   Editor’s note: One in a series of articles focusing on the inner workings of the South Brunswick Police Department.
   When 3-year-old Daniel left his backyard through a hole in the fence and went for a walk without his parents knowledge, township police responded in full force.
   It was September, and Daniel had been playing in his fenced-in backyard in Kendall Park while his mother, Ana Kalet, kept an eye on him from the kitchen. But after turning her back for a minute, she looked out the window and couldn’t find the boy.
   "She immediately called me up and I told her to call the police," Mark Kalet, Daniel’s father, said Tuesday.
   Daniel wasn’t kidnapped, and was found by his father sitting contentedly in the back of a neighbor’s Honda Odyssey minivan about 90 minutes after he went missing. Mark Kalet is the brother of South Brunswick Post Managing Editor Hank Kalet,
   Mr. Kalet said he was impressed with the police response to his wife’s call. He said they arrived at his Berwick Road home within a minute of the call. And when he arrived home from his job in Somerset as an information technology director, he saw firsthand how they handle reports of a missing child.
   "As I came around the corner, I saw one police car in the park near us," Mr. Kalet said. "He was looking in a stream near the (Kingsley) park and I ran over there and asked ‘did they find him?’ They hadn’t so I got back in my car. I went one block over and there was one police car. I went another block over there was another police car. And when I got to house there were two police cars in front of the house."
   South Brunswick police spokesman Detective James Ryan said saturating the area with officers is the department’s first response to this type of incident. He said all available police are called to the area, where they set up a perimeter around the house by placing cars on arterial roadways in the area, looking for suspicious vehicles. The police also set up a chain of command, and begin going door to door asking neighbors if they have seen the child and report all information to the person in charge of the investigation, Detective Ryan said.
   "We automatically give every resource we have," Detective Ryan said. "And then we set up a command system. The investigators start talking to people and the patrol officers flood the area with vehicles."
   Detective Ryan said the police feel it is important to get as many officers as possible out on the streets in case there is a kidnapping, calling officers normally assigned to desk jobs and pulling officers on duty elsewhere to help with the search.
   "If someone did do something wrong and tried to get the kid out of the area, then they might give up that attempt," Detective Ryan said. "And secondly, when we saturate the area we know we’re locked down. So we know what vehicles are going this way or that way."
   Daniel’s case is similar to the 30 or so calls the South Brunswick Police Department receives a year regarding missing persons, in that he was found close to home.
   "Young people, about 6 or 5 years old, stay in their area of comfort, which is not that far," Detective Ryan said.
   Mr. Kalet said he began helping with the search, and noticed that the door to his backyard neighbor’s van was ajar.
   "You could tell he opened and closed the door, because it was partially closed," Mr. Kalet said. "He went through the van, and found their candy and ate some. Found their gum and ate some. And found their crayons and drew on the dashboard and the seat."
   When he got him out of the van, a patrol officer who was walking down the street approached Mr. Kalet.
   "He asked ‘is that the boy?’ " Mr. Kalet said. "Then he asked if I was the father. And the third question was, ‘where are his pants.’ "
   Mr. Kalet said that when Daniel plays, he often lounges in his diaper, and he made himself at home in the neighbor’s van. Police asked about the pants out of concern for the child’s safety.
   Detective Ryan said that if investigations reveal that the incident could be a kidnapping, police then contact the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office for assistance.
   "If it was a larger scale, time wise, we would contact the prosecutor’s office of Emergency Management Search and Rescue Unit," Detective Ryan said. "There would be search dogs and a command system would be established. The chief would usually act in charge of the scene and he would have to decide with the other officers if this was an Amber Alert situation, and how to report it as an Amber Alert."
   Detective Ryan said parents can help make searches like this one go by more smoothly by getting their children identification cards at the South Brunswick Police Department’s annual Child ID Day program, held in the spring. During the program children have their photos taken. Information such as height, weight, hair color and blood type is recorded and the children are fingerprinted.
   "Time is of the essence in these cases," Detective Ryan said. "We can’t be wondering what their blood type is or what their fingerprint is or how tall they are, or what’s their weight. This helps us work more efficiently."
   Although Child ID Day is once a year, Detective Ryan said the police are willing to accommodate large groups, such as Scouting Troops, who request having the cards made up after ID Day.
   "We’re always here to help any want, need or desire of the community," Detective Ryan said. "We will work with a group that wants to set up a ID program with us."
   Mr. Kalet said he wants to thank the police for their work in helping to find his son. He said he was amazed at how many officers the township dedicated to the incident and that he is thankful for their hard work.
   "We want to thank them for keeping it all together," Mr. Kalet said. "My wife and I were focused because we didn’t want to lose it there. And they kept asking questions and kept everything pretty calm and we’re very thankful to them. And definitely, call them if there’s a problem."
   Detective Ryan said that the police want to ensure the safety of all people in the township, especially children.
   "Whenever you hear a young person is missing, you drop what you’re doing," Detective Ryan said. "It’s always all hands on deck."