Mission Moment: Citizen Agents Help Find Missing Children

We’ve previously shared how Citizen Agents process information about missing people submitted by our users. On Citizen Premium, agents meticulously verify each report with law enforcement and family members to minimize the risk of endangering or exploiting vulnerable individuals — especially when they are minors. Today, we’d like to share how our team works cross-functionally to find missing children.

Earlier this month, a Citizen Agent received information from the Los Angeles Police Department about a missing 12-year-old child. The agent created an incident on Citizen with the child’s description and asked anyone with information to tap the Blue Shield button in the app to talk to our team. An hour later, a new subscriber called in. He was a family friend, and wanted to add a photo of the missing child so users could easily identify them.

Out of caution, our agent requested to speak to and obtain permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian. She was able to loop in the child’s mother, who not only gave permission but also supplied information that matched police records (e.g. full name, date of birth, case number). The Citizen Agent updated the incident and re-notified over 1,500 users to help find the missing child.

As part of Citizen’s commitment to check on and provide care for our subscribers, the agent followed up 48 hours later with the family, who confirmed the child had been safely found thanks to a combination of police tips from fliers and Citizen users! The Citizen Agent promptly removed the child’s name and photos from the incident, then alerted the community about the good news.

We see this sort of impact on a consistent basis. Just this week, our Citizen Agents played a role in another Mission Moment. When a 13-year-old went missing for four days, our team took charge. At the request of the missing child’s parent, an agent sent a notification prompting the Citizen community to join a search party scheduled later that day. We’re happy to share that the child was found safely shortly after this event to Citizen action and involvement.

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