# Hypothetical: Parents during an abduction investigation



## Sionainne (Jan 23, 2008)

If you've ever read the story on Adam Walsh, it becomes clear that his parents (John Walsh and wife Reve) feel several police departments and/or officers botched their jobs, destroyed key evidence, and basically screwed things up hopelessly so that their son's confessed killer never served time for this crime, and they never recovered Adam's body (just his head). I remember them saying in retrospect that the police didn't know when to ask for help. The case completely overwhelmed a small town's police department, and certain people's egos.

If your kid disappeared, of course you would call the police immediately. What else, if anything, would you do immediately? It seems like what happens in the early, early stages would be the most important. Hire a private investigator(s)? Hire former police as consultants? Organize some kind of volunteer group? But who would lead that?

If you go down the consultants route, the real police might of course get riled that you have sought independent help, and dislike you. You kinda don't want people who dislike you trying to find your missing child. It seems like a tricky situation, but hey it's ego vs. YOUR ABDUCTED KID. Nowadays, parents hire consultants just to consult on scoring scholarships and college apps for their kids b/c the don't necessarily trust the high school guidance counselor with this stuff. The assumption is that the guidance counselor has tons of other equally important kids to worry about, all with the same issues. You only care about what happens to yours.

Would you let the police handle it on their own? What would be the right way to make sure major things aren't getting screwed up, or to not go insane that it may be?


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## pauletoy (Aug 26, 2007)

If I am not mistaken Adam Walsh was abducted from a Sears. The Walsh's requested that all of the store's doors be locked or a least guarded by employees. The store management refused because it would inconvenience other shoppers. It's sad because the Walsh's did try to act quickly even before police arrived. If the store had complied with the Walsh's request Adam might have been saved. One of the many good things that have resulted from this terrible tragedy is "Code Adam".

Hopefully, there are more safeguards in place now to lessen the risk of a similar abduction. I would not, however, rely on police alone to find my child. I would rally family and friends for search parties, contact local media, etc.

Also, the new Amber Alert would help in getting the word out about an endangered child.


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## rainyday (Apr 28, 2006)

Do stores now have a policy to lock the doors in this type of situation? I know some do, but is it pretty typical now?

And I think most people would do whatever they thought might help if their child disappeared. There are obvious financial constraints, but I think most people would hire consultants, canvas neighborhoods, whatever they could do.


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## oceanbaby (Nov 19, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rainyday* 
Do stores now have a policy to lock the doors in this type of situation? I know some do, but is it pretty typical now?


I was in Nordstrom one time, and there was a mom across the way from me with a toddler walking around. At one point she must have lost track of him, because I heard her start calling his name, and then she got more frantic, and more frantic. As people started over there to help her, she started screaming "Shut the doors! Shut the doors!" No one rushed over to shut the doors. (Granted, they were those huge rolling doors that open into an indoor mall, so it wasn't just like pulling a door closed.) She found the little boy a few minutes later inside the store.

So I don't think there is a particular policy in place about locking the doors because no employee made a move to do so.


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## kblackstone444 (Jun 17, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rainyday* 
Do stores now have a policy to lock the doors in this type of situation? I know some do, but is it pretty typical now?

Yes, they announce over the speaker system that they have a "Code Adam" and the security/store workers don't allow anyone to leave. Or at least they d in NY and MA, I don't know about other states.

I was in a Sears when my son was three or four and there was a "Code Adam" for a three year old boy. The security people wouldn't allow anyone to leave, the cops were called, and parents with preschool aged children were being approached. Kinda freaky when secutiry people are looking at my son wondering if he's the missing child, but I don't know all the details, but the little boy was found in another store and everything turned out okay.

When my son was 8, my Hubby, my two kids and I were in a big Mall and my Hubby took the kids to find a seat while I went to get the food. My son decided he wanted to go with me and went to go find me when my Hubby wasn't working. Luckily, there was a security guard nearby- my Hubby went right to him. The security guard was about to call a "Code Adam", but then my little girl spotted me and my son on our way back, so they didn't call it in.


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## Sionainne (Jan 23, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pauletoy* 
If I am not mistaken Adam Walsh was abducted from a Sears. The Walsh's requested that all of the store's doors be locked or a least guarded by employees. The store management refused because it would inconvenience other shoppers. It's sad because the Walsh's did try to act quickly even before police arrived. If the store had complied with the Walsh's request Adam might have been saved.

Sadly, it probably would not have helped. It was actually store security who escorted Adam outside (as in clouds-overhead-outside) with a bunch of other kids. (http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=39789). It is really sad. JW has accomplished amazing things stemming from this terrible loss.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rainyday* 
And I think most people would do whatever they thought might help if their child disappeared. There are obvious financial constraints, but I think most people would hire consultants, canvas neighborhoods, whatever they could do.

I agree most people would do whatever they could, within or well out of reason. And I'm sorry if I seem thick. But in that type of frantic, nightmarish situation, how exactly do you look for a "good" consultant? Do you think they come to you -- like when you get into a car accident that's not your fault and a hundred letters from personal injury lawyers start showing up in your mailbox? Interviewing a list of them and checking references sounds unthinkable and untenable. I don't know. It's just something I wondered this since I read the AW story.


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## jeanine123 (Jan 7, 2005)

I would make sure my local police department contacted the FBI for assistance. They take kidnapping very, very seriously from what I understand and I would want them working on the case.


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## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

I've never even considered what I might do in that sort of situation, it never dawned on me that I should make some sort of possible child-abduction plan. Not that it doesn't happen, but it's just so UNLIKELY that a child would be abducted by a person they didn't know.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rainyday* 
Do stores now have a policy to lock the doors in this type of situation? I know some do, but is it pretty typical now?

It must vary from place to place. I've worked in retail (including a Sears) and I worked at a large zoo for several years. I've never heard of a 'code Adam.' We did have procedures in place for lost children, but they never included shutting the doors or preventing people from leaving a place a business.


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## Ofwait (Feb 16, 2008)

Home Depot does Code Adam... We were in one in Washington State that had one, they were letting people who didnt fit the discription leave with out hassle though.


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## mamagoof (Mar 3, 2008)

I know that up here in B.C. Walmart and Costco have Code Adam protocols in place. I was in a Walmart once when they called it and it was like a well oiled machine the way all the employees sprang into action. They must have drills or something because everyone had a job to do and they were right on it.

Laurie


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## Jenne (May 21, 2004)

I'm NYM but I have been in Walmart, wanted them to do a Code Adam, and have gotten ZERO help from employees. The child did in fact wind up outside the store. It was VERY VERY scary. Luckily, it turned out okay, without police involvement, and with the child found, but I would NEVER count on a store employee--even when asked--to do what is necessary to keep a child safe. I stood there saying, "I need you to close and lock the doors," over and over while the employees insisted that they/we keep looking. It was awful! Awful!
I hope that I am the only person in the world to be in that situation and not have the store respond appropriately, but I doubt that is the case.

I second the comment about contacting the FBI.

Jenne


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## tbone_kneegrabber (Oct 16, 2007)

a lot of stores have stickers on the door when you walk in that say "code adam" letting you know that it is a policy in that particular store


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## broodymama (May 3, 2004)

About a year ago I was in the Navy Exchange on base and there was a Code Adam. I don't remember hearing it called over the speakers, but they had the doors closed with employees standing in front of each exit making sure nobody left. Nobody was allowed to leave until the little boy was found. That's the only time I've ever been in a store when a Code Adam was called, though I've seen the stickers on doors of many stores.


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## BathrobeGoddess (Nov 19, 2001)

Barnes and Noble does Code Adam...my dh worked there for years and yes they do pracitce...at least they did at his store...


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## dislocator3972 (Dec 27, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tbone_kneegrabber* 
a lot of stores have stickers on the door when you walk in that say "code adam" letting you know that it is a policy in that particular store

Any store that has this sticker should (in theory) run a Code Adam/Code Sarah the same way.

I worked at Lowe's for a while and this was one of the first things they covered in orientation. In a store like that, they're worried that a LO might have wandered into a shipping/receiving area, or that there are so many places for him/her to play and hide. Also, Lowe's has never killed anyone in their stores (which is unusual for a national box store) and they are pretty serious about keeping it that way, so when they run a safety code, they do NOT kid around. Certain people are assigned to certain doors, cameras, aisles, etc. I'm trying to remember the exact wording, but I believe my store manager said something to the effect of "I don't care who we piss off or how much money they would have spent, if a child is lost, no one leaves until the kid is found." lol, I always wondered if this normally laid back guy would actually physically bar someone from leaving.

I was always under the impression that other stores would practice these procedures the same way, and it's disappointing to hear so many experiences where they did not.

OP, I have no idea what I'd do. I would probably try to tell the police that we wanted to hire an investigator because we would want every eye possible searching for our child. I would also request that the investigator be sure to tell the police EVERYTHING he/she finds out immediately. IME, police officers are pretty understanding when it comes to desperate situations, and I would expect them to understand our intentions.


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## caro113 (Aug 25, 2008)

I was at a Walmart (yeah, I know, but it was the only store in town) in Wisconsin when they announced that a child was missing. A little girl wearing a Bratz jacket. Now I realize they have to tell you what she's wearing, but I was standing right next to the Bratz jackets hanging on a rack when they announced that and thought "that could be any child. And this is Walmart, that child could easily be in other clothes by now." Anyhow, they never stopped anyone from leaving, at least not me, and they never announced again whether the child was found or anything. But that's Walmart for you ..


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