ChoicePoint(R), Captaris Partner to Enhance ADAM Program to Support Recoveries of Missing Children
August 14 2006 - 9:56AM
PR Newswire (US)
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The ADAM system,
a service of ChoicePoint (NYSE:CPS), will be using enhanced fax
server technology provided by Captaris to increase the success rate
in recovering missing children across the United States. ADAM was
developed by ChoicePoint in 2000 and donated to the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to increase the
chances of safely recovering missing children by dramatically
improving NCMEC's ability to inform authorities and the public of
tips and leads in the areas children are most likely to be found.
ADAM uses Captaris RightFax(R) technology to send missing child
posters to police, news media, schools, businesses, medical centers
and other recipients within a specific geographic search area, such
as a state, ZIP code, area code or a combined search area near a
city and ZIP code. NCMEC sends a photo and an announcement of a
lost child to ADAM, including a city believed to be the target.
ADAM examines a database of all possible recipients and finds just
those within a designated mile radius of that city. Using RightFax,
ADAM automatically transmits the data and photo of the missing
child to targeted recipients and the search is under way. Since no
human faxing is involved, the transmitted posters are distributed
much faster and, when it comes to recovering a child, every second
counts. According to a study by the State of Washington's Office of
the Attorney General, 74 percent of child abduction homicides
occurred within the first three hours following the abductions.
This terrifying fact led a team of ChoicePoint associates to work
nights and weekends to develop ADAM. "In National Center cases, one
in six missing children is recovered because someone saw a child's
photo and called authorities," said Ernie Allen, NCMEC co-founder,
president and CEO. "Through this new enhancement, the ADAM program
will prove to be an even more invaluable tool in allowing us to
rapidly distribute photos and missing child data to targeted areas.
The program is a key component of our recovery efforts." Through a
continuing partnership with NCMEC, ChoicePoint technologies have
assisted law enforcement officers in the investigation of thousands
of cases and in the recovering of more than 200 missing or runaway
children. In recent incidents: - A recovery involved a
three-year-old child in Arkansas who was abducted by a stranger.
Posters were faxed to locations in Arkansas, Mississippi and
Tennessee, where the abductor was believed to have taken the child.
The abductor's mother saw several posters and convinced the
abductor to voluntarily turn the child over to a local social
services agency. - A one-year-old boy was abducted by his father,
prompting the dissemination of posters to several states. A motel
manager in New Mexico saw the posters and contacted NCMEC to report
that the child and his father were staying in the motel.
Authorities recovered the child and arrested the father. - A
16-year-old endangered runaway, who left her home in North
Carolina, was recovered as a result of a ChoicePoint fax. A store
manager saw the faxed poster and contacted law enforcement
agencies, who confirmed the child's identity and reunited her with
her father. "We are thrilled to be able to make our ADAM program
even better," said Trish McCall, ChoicePoint's ADAM project
manager. "ADAM has proven to be very successful and we look forward
to helping many more families in the future with this enhanced fax
server technology." "We are proud to be associated with the
incredibly vital work of the ADAM program," said Jurgen Stephan,
vice president of global marketing for Captaris Inc. "There is no
better example of the benefits of fast and reliable document
delivery using RightFax." ADAM is named in honor of Adam Walsh,
whose kidnapping and murder brought the horror of child abduction
to national attention more than 20 years ago. About ChoicePoint
ChoicePoint (NYSE:CPS) helps businesses, government agencies and
nonprofit organizations make better decisions through information
and technology solutions. Each year, ChoicePoint helps more than
six million people get the jobs they deserve and more than 100
million people get fairly priced home and auto insurance. Small
businesses can obtain affordable commercial insurance because of
our products. Businesses grow revenue with our marketing services
and cut costs through our authentication and anti-fraud tools.
Government agencies use our data and technology to fulfill their
missions in all parts of the world. Visit
http://www.choicepoint.com/ for more information. About Captaris
Captaris, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAPA) is a leading provider of software
products that automate business processes, manage documents
electronically and provide efficient information delivery. Our
product suite of Captaris RightFax, Captaris Workflow and Captaris
Alchemy Document Management is distributed through a global network
of leading technology partners. We have customers in financial
services, healthcare, government and many other industries, and our
products are installed in all of the Fortune 100 and many Global
2000 companies. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, Captaris was
founded in 1982 and is publicly traded on the NASDAQ National
Market under the symbol CAPA. For more information please visit
http://www.captaris.com/. ChoicePoint and the ChoicePoint logo are
registered trademarks of ChoicePoint Asset Company. DATASOURCE:
ChoicePoint CONTACT: Chuck Jones of ChoicePoint, +1-770-752-3594,
or cell, +1-770-289-0894, or Web site: http://www.choicepoint.com/
http://www.captaris.com/
Copyright