Child alert program activated in search for missing Cloquet boy

Talk about it

Cloquet Police used the “A Child Is Missing” alert program in an effort to locate a missing child Tuesday.

According to Deputy Cloquet Police Chief Terry Hill, at approximately 4:30 p.m. Cloquet police responded to a report of a missing 7-year-old child in the vicinity of Washington Elementary School in Cloquet. The boy’s father reported that his son had not returned home after school and that he had checked various places for his son before reporting his son missing to the Cloquet Police Department.

After gaining information and assessing the situation, Hill said the Cloquet Police initiated a call to the ‘A Child Is Missing’ alert program. The program, which the department first signed on to a year ago, uses GPS mapping to notify local residents’ phone lines or cell phones and give a description of the missing child. Community residents are then encouraged to be on the lookout for the missing child.

In this particular incident, the alerts indicated that a 7-year-old boy was missing in the area, that he was wearing a red and white shirt, along with various other details of his height, weight and appearance.

As it turned out, the boy got caught up playing with friends on his way home from school and lost track of time.

Although he wasn’t located as a direct result of the alert program, police are hoping more people will sign up for the program so they can help with future cases. Community members with land-line phones do not need to sign up but those with cell phones will need to contact A Child Is Missing Network at www.achildismissing.org.

Cloquet police were assisted by the Fond du Lac Police Department, Carlton County Sheriff’s Department and Minnesota State Patrol in the search.

Tags: carlton county, news, cloquet