I WONDER WHAT ALL THOSE COPS ARE DOING OUT THERE?

Last night I ended up getting a missing 7 year old child call real early in the shift (I had just gotten my coffee and was ready to go, but wasn't anticipating that particular type of call) When I got on scene I spoke with the mom and the childs cousin (who he was playing with) I found out it was an intact family (mom and dad still married, so that usually takes parental kidnap out of the equation)

I found out from the cousin that they were playing kickball, and that he (the cousin) went upstairs to go potty and grab a snack and when he went back outside the child was nowhere around. The family lived right near the railroad tracks and a river plus it was really cold last night and the kid was dressed in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt (he took his jacket off to play kickball) So that made me a little nervous. I requested other units to my location to assist in a house to house grid search of the area. The State Police were monitoring our frequency and offered assistance which included officers, a K-9 unit and the Air Wing.

Due to the fact that I was 1st unit on scene (and senior patrol officer at scene) and that the road supervisor was tied up on another call I was the coordinator, I got the kids picture and showed it to the responding units, got info on the childs friends in the area and sent the units to check these areas and it was my call to accept K9 and Air Wing support, which I did due to the area in which the kid was missing from.

Initially before the calvary showed up I did a yard search (and ripped my pants while doing this) and when they did show up, I stayed in contact with the family and gave out info over the radio to the cars.

We checked all of the friends houses that the mother provided us just as the search was looking hopeless one of the officers located him. It turns out the kid got bored waiting for his cousin to come back out and went over his friends house to see if he wanted to play. They were watching all of the cops searching the area (not knowing we were looking for him) until the friends dad came down to see what we were doing and if he could be of assistance. Mom and child were reunited and the child got an Enforcer lecture on telling mom or dad when he is going somewhere. I had to be stern but inside I was so relieved that it ended well.