National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Ring Join Forces to Help Bring Home Missing Children

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Ring announced a partnership to help keep kids safe throughout the United States. Together, NCMEC and Ring will work to increase awareness of missing children and leverage the power of neighborhood communities to help reunite missing children with their families. Beginning today, NCMEC missing child posters will be featured directly within the Neighbors app by Ring, a free app designed to help communities connect and stay informed about local crime and safety incidents – whether they own a Ring device or not – to reach millions of engaged users. 

According to the FBI, there were 424,066 cases of missing children reported to law enforcement in 2018. Historically, NCMEC has worked to recover missing children and operates a 24-hour hotline (1-800-THE-LOST or 1-800-843-5678). The organization also shares information about missing children through AMBER Alerts and social media posts, which have been effective methods to raise awareness. This partnership will ensure missing child posters will be visible directly in the app to users whose defined neighborhood fall within the area of interest.

"NCMEC was created to make finding missing children a priority in our country, and change the way we search for our kids. Now, social media and technology are a huge part of our success," said John Walsh, Co-Founder of NCMEC. "By partnering with the Neighbors App by Ring, a community safety app with millions of users, we will reach more people than ever before. Child safety is everyone's responsibility and we know this partnership will help us bring even more children home."

Launched in May 2018 and used by millions of people around the country, the Neighbors app has played a critical role in successfully bringing missing children home. For example, a young teen in Albuquerque went missing one afternoon until he was spotted and reunited with his parents thanks to their post on the Neighbors app. NCMEC hopes to leverage the Neighbors app to achieve similar reunions across the country.

"Since the beginning, Ring has invented products and services that drive toward our mission to help make neighborhoods safer. Our team is proud to leverage that work in support of NCMEC's efforts to bring missing children home," said Jamie Siminoff, CEO and Chief Inventor of Ring. "Together, we will reach millions of engaged neighbors who are just as passionate as we are about helping their communities and keeping families safe."

Ring is also donating funds to support NCMEC's geo-targeting efforts on Facebook to reach users who may have valuable information to aid the search for a missing child.

To learn more about the NCMEC and Ring partnership, visit the blog.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Since 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® has served as the leading private, nonprofit organization helping to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization. As part of its work as the clearinghouse and resource center on issues relating to missing and exploited children, NCMEC operates a hot-line, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), and has assisted in the recovery of more than 311,000 missing children. NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline®, a mechanism for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, which has received more than 60 million reports. To learn more about NCMEC, visit www.missingkids.org.

About Ring
Since its founding in 2013, Ring has been on a mission to help make neighborhoods safer. From the first-ever video doorbell, to the award-winning DIY Ring Alarm system, Ring's smart home security product line, as well as the Neighbors app, offer users affordable whole-home and neighborhood security. At Ring, we are committed to making home and neighborhood security accessible and effective for everyone -- while working hard to bring communities together. Ring is an Amazon company. For more information, visit www.ring.com. With Ring, you're always home.

SOURCE The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Related Links

http://www.ncmec.org