Crime & Safety

NAPD and Proactive Protection of Children

Local police keep child safety on their priority list.

Next week, thousands will gather at for National Night Out, to celebrate public safety.

Much of that public safety effort has focused on children. With child abductions -- and worse -- in the news and online predators a threat in today's hyper-connected world, the are taking an aggressive proactive approach to preventing harm to local children.

Recently, the department held a poster-making contest in which local kids designed Online predators have increasingly become a danger to more kids in recent years, with more and more kids getting smart phones and other types of access to the Internet.

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"Our School Resource Officer every year has classroom safety courses in the schools," Police Lt. Charles Gray said. "That in itself helps prevent [abduction]."

And if a child does go missing, police respond within minutes. In fact, just last weekend two kids were reported missing from and police were on the search immediately. The kids had just wandered off and were found very quickly.

Find out what's happening in North Andoverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly 800,000 children in the United States are missing each year, which is an average of 2,185 per day.

Check out the attached photo gallery of missing children in Massachusetts.


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