Waukee Reports Few Missing Person Cases

You can't help but notice how often it's in the news -- incidents of abductions, attempted abductions and missing kids. 

In July, from a lake not far from their homes in Evansdale, their bikes left in the grass as if they'd just stepped away for a few minutes. Almost two months later, there's still no sign of them.

And it's not just happening in "other" cities. It's happening here at home, too. 

Just last spring in Waukee, a as they headed home from a neighborhood park. Then, just a few weeks ago, a man emerged from a van to try and while she waited at the bus stop. He was unsuccessful.

Come Wednesday, central Iowans will quietly remember one of the most high-profile missing child cases in our state's history -- 30 years have passed since Johnny Gosch disappeared while delivering newspapers near his West Des Moines home. 

How Waukee Responds

Mackenzie Sposeto, a police officer with the Waukee Police Department and school resource officer with the Waukee Community Schools, knows better than some how scary the idea of a missing child can be.

Sposeto, a mother of three, is usually one of the first people on the case when a child is reported missing. She sees the upset moms and the anxious dads as they try to work out where their son or daughter could be or who might have a clue to their whereabouts.

"It's all about communication," says Sposeto. "As soon as it's confirmed that that child was not in class or didn't show up somewhere when they say they would, we make sure that we start gathering information. When was the last time they were seen? Who was the last person to talk to them? What were they wearing? Where could they have gone?"

And the reaction these days is immediate. No longer do worried parents have to wait 48 hours before filing a missing person report. In fact, Sposeto said, if it's a juvenile, police get right on it. Every minute that goes by that a child is away from their home and their family is precious.

"When we have a child that's missing ... you have a window of time that you have a better possibility to get that child home safe. Otherwise, there becomes this gap and anyone will tell you, you have to get on it. You have to bring this child home safe."

Thankfully, Sposeto said, the department has rarely had to use its missing child procedures. Periodically, a parent will call to report that their son or daughter never made it home from school only to find that they stopped off at the neighbor's to play ball or watch TV with a friend. But otherwise, no missing child cases here.

"We've been lucky in that we haven't had any big missing person cases," she said. "On occasion we'll get that call that, 'my kid didn't come home from school,' or 'my kid didn't come home last night,' but we've been blessed to always find those kids right away."