The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to report the successful recovery of a missing special needs child yesterday afternoon, March 31, 2016.

At 1:02 p.m. Dispatchers received a phone call reporting that a nine-year-old boy had wandered away from his residence in North Stafford. Approximately 25 units responded to the call and assistance was given from a number of partner agencies, county departments and citizen volunteers. The boy was found about a mile away from his residence, unharmed.

The child was identified through Project Lifesaver. He wore a trackable bracelet that enables special equipment to locate the missing person within a one mile radius.

In the course of the next 80 minutes a vast number of resources were mobilized. Reverse 9-1-1 calls went out to 209 residents within close proximity of the missing child. Two K-9’s from Marine Corps Base Quantico, a Stafford and Spotsylvania K-9’s, a bloodhound from the Virginia State Police, CSX Trains slowed their speed, personnel from Aquia Harbour Police and a helicopter from The Fairfax County Police Department were mobilized within the first few minutes of the search.

Stafford citizen-volunteers trained in search and rescue were contacted and Operation Extra Eyes went immediately into effect. Operation Extra Eyes provides radio contact with all county employees who are working within the community to be on the lookout for a missing person. Stafford Public School bus drivers and County Utility workers were all provided descriptions of the missing person by their radio dispatchers.

The Sheriff’s Office commends the efforts of our partner agencies and community volunteers who mobilized to search for the child. Rapid responses with all available resources brought this event to a successful conclusion.

Additional information in how to participate in the Reverse 9-1-1/Stafford Alert System and criteria for Project Lifesaver is found on page two.

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County Residents can self-enroll and receive special notifications and alerts on a wide variety of topics including traffic incidents, Public School information and emergency information from the Sheriff’s Office (also known as the Reverse 9-1-1 System.) Please consider enrolling today by clicking here.

Project Lifesaver is a national program facilitated by Stafford’s Crime Prevention Office. It identifies children with special needs and senior citizens. If you would like additional information about this program contact 1st Sgt. D.E. English of the Stafford Sheriff’s Office to request an information packet or visit http://www.projectlifesaver.org/.