FBI * 11000 Wilshire Blvd. * Los Angeles, Ca 90024 * 310-996-3804,3343,4402 * Fax: 310-996-3345

May 25, 2007

FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Education Team Up to Commemorate National Missing Children's Day May 25 School Safety Bus Tour by FBI to Promote Good Practices by Students, Families and Educators The FBI and the Los Angeles County Office of Education will observe National Missing Children's Day on Friday, May 25th, by taking a tour of selected schools in an effort to promote child safety in the Los Angeles area. National Missing Children's Day, established during President Reagan's administration in 1983, is designed to raise awareness among parents and guardians by providing them with resources and information to encourage discussion with their children about predators and personal safety. This day serves as an annual reminder to the nation that child protection must be a national priority. Friday's tour will highlight the FBI's Mobile Incident Command Center as employees from the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office and the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, based in West Virginia, make visits to four elementary and middle school campuses in Los Angeles County. Presentations before students and their parents and teachers will be made by FBI Special Agent in Charge, Peter Brust, and school administrators. Groups of students from each of the schools will be fingerprinted and photographed by FBI employees operating laptop computers using the "livescan" technology fingerprinting system. Safety booklets will be distributed to children, as well as hundreds of finger-print kits and student photos for families to store at home. The school tour is sponsored by the FBI's Innocent Images National Initiative and the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement) Team; the Los Angeles County Office of Education's Safe Schools Center, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 that operates under a Congressional mandate and works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice; the Rape Treatment Center, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center; and the California Highway Patrol. The FBI's SAFE Team, a multi-agency task force dedicated to preventing and investigating the sexual exploitation of children, with an emphasis on Internet-facilitated crime, is comprised of investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, California Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol and the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Under federal law, the FBI is mandated by Congress to investigate kidnappings and online sexual exploitation of children. The FBI has Special Agents trained and experienced in the online sexual exploitation of children and kidnapping matters who are available to assist and coordinate with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies during an investigation. Friday's tour will commence at Farmdale Elementary School at 8:00a.m. on Friday and conclude at Sierra Vista Middle School at approximately 3:30 p.m. The full schedule is listed below: Farmdale Elementary School (8:00 to 9:00 a.m.) 2660 Ruth Swiggett Drive (El Sereno area) Los Angeles 90032 (323-222-6659) Muscatel Middle School (10:00 to 11:30 a.m.) 4201 North Ivar Avenue, Rosemead 91770 (626-287-1139) Fairgrove Academy (Noon to 1:30 p.m.) 15540 Fairgrove Avenue, La Puente 91744 (626-933-8505) Sierra Vista Middle School (2:00 to 3:30 p.m.) 15801 Sierra Vista Court, La Puente 91744 (626-933-4003) The following tips are designed to help parents and legal guardians in keeping their children safe: Keep an updated, good-quality photograph and fingerprint card of your child in case of an emergency. Know where your children are and with whom they spend time. Establish and memorize a "codeword" known only to parent/child Monitor your child's use of the Internet at all times. Discuss safeguards with your child and explain the need for your involvement in setting up restrictions for access. Ensure your child is not misrepresenting his or her age while on the Internet. Even if a minor does not post personal information on their profile, a predator may track him or her down by perusing the profile of one of his/her friends, on which your child might be featured. Read and exercise the safety tips listed on the site of which your child is a member, and report inappropriate behavior directly to the website. Place your child's computer in the family room to facilitate monitoring of online activity. Restrict your child's profiles and groups on social networking sites to people your child knows personally; do not allow access to individuals your child has met through the Internet. Most sites allow for parents to block questionable individuals from contacting their children by viewing their child's profile. Children should be discouraged from posting personal information. Additional web-based resources including information useful in keeping children safe are as follows: www.fbi.gov OR http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/crimesmain.htm www.ncmec.org www.take25.org