Facebook helps police find missing children
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The National Police Agency (NPA) said on its Facebook page it would help find missing children via social networking services. / Screen capture from Facebook
By Lee Min-hyung
The National Police Agency (NPA) has partnered with Facebook to find missing or abducted children faster.
The NPA will issue alerts, including pictures and details of missing children, on the news feeds of Facebook users who live in areas where the children go missing.
The service starts in the middle of this month and is expected to boost search efforts, as nearly 14 million people are Facebook users out of the nation’s total population of more than 51 million. Users can spread the alerts to their friends by clicking the “share” button.
“The issue of missing children needs a lot of attention from society,” the NPA said on its Facebook page. “We hope all of us care about the issue and make efforts to find the missing children.”
In January, Facebook started sending Amber Alerts to United States users to help find missing children.
The Amber Alert, or Child Abduction Emergency, started in the U.S. in 1996 when Amber Hagerman, 9, was abducted and murdered. The alerts were originally distributed via radio, television stations and the Internet, but have expanded to social networking services.
The NPA’s latest initiative comes about a week after it announced a partnership with the nation’s top portal operator, Naver. As of April 29, Naver users can search for information about missing children.