It takes less than a minute for your child to go missing

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - According to the child crime and safety center in the United States a child goes missing or is abducted every 40 seconds.

With how fast children can vanish from you, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office wants to help locate your missing child as quickly as possible.

In being able to successfully doing this there are a few tips you can follow.

“It’s very busy and quite often families do get separated when their there. So, what I mean when I say have a plan is take a photo of your child that day of what they’re wearing, specifically for that day. And pick a point to meet up if you do get split up,” said Lieutenant Paul Stevens, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.

If your child does go missing, throughout the fair the PCSO has their officers in florescent yellow shirts, and a command center located at the front of the fair.

They also use additional resources to help locate the missing person.

“Well actually put it out on the loudspeakers, so we can make sure we can let the area know that the child is missing, and if you’re the parent of the child or the lost parent, one of the two, this is where their located, please come and see us,” said Travis Lasseter, Pennington County Commissioner District 4.

A common mistake the PCSO has seen with parents is realizing after a certain time there is no reentry.

“One of the things that we have seen so far is parents that have left their kids at the fair, maybe they have gone there together, and they try to reenter after 10 o’clock at night, there is no reentry after 10 p.m.,” said Stevens.

The final day of the fair is Sunday August 27.

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