This new app could help find a missing child across the province

Woman carrying child. (Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg)

Police out of Orillia announced a new system on Friday to help increase the chances of finding missing children around the province.

This effort coincides with Missing Children’s Month and International Missing Children’s Day.

OPP announced its partnership with the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) adopting a new progressive web application called MCSC’s “rescu”. An application that plans to enhance community awareness.

MCSC “rescu” allows the public to subscribe to child search alerts for urgent missing children cases in their area. It will provide interactive maps of missing youths right across Canada.

If a child goes missing within OPP jurisdiction, the OPP says it will collaborate with MCSC to publish details on “rescu” and, if appropriate criteria is met, issue child search alerts.

These alerts will only be sent for the most urgent cases, including:

• Threats of self-harm or suicide
• Drug/alcohol addiction posing safety risks
• Neurocognitive disorders
• Indigenous or 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals
• Risk of serious bodily harm or death

“Your information could mean resolution for a family who has experienced the trauma of having a child or loved one go missing,” shared OPP.

Police encourage the public to register and submit any tips that could help. Every tip is followed up and might be just the piece of information needed to find a child.

In emergencies, always call 9-1-1. For non-urgent OPP-related matters, police ask you to call 1-888-310-1122.