Press & News

Helpful concepts

SONYA COLBERG World Staff Writer
05/27/2000
Business
Tom Quinn, president of Imagery Concepts, is reflected in a CD that contains the company's software to help find missing children.
MIKE SIMMONS / Tulsa World
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Company's software can find missing kids
Software developed by a Tulsa company is being used to create an electronic dragnet to help find missing children.

Imagery Concepts is providing the technology to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The Tulsa company, with the help of Canon Computer Systems, put together a child safety program designed to enhance the national center's program. The center aided in the recovery of 66 percent of missing children in 1989 and raised that level to 93 percent today.

"If we can increase that by half a percent or one child, what's that worth?" said Tom Quinn, president of Imagery Concepts, during a press conference at the company headquarters in Boulder Towers.

"I believe in this so much," he said after the conference. "We're a business for profit but, hey, we can help children."

The idea is to get a missing child's photo and personal information immediately organized and in the hands of law enforcement so a search can begin promptly.

"Those critical hours after the abduction of a child is when we need to get this information out," said Dennis Walters, Canon sales director.

Getting photos and information out quickly is key to finding kids, said David Shapiro, marketing director of the center, which was started in 1984 by John Walsh, whose son, Adam, was abducted and killed in 1981.

"Ninety-three percent of these children are recovered because of the efforts of the business community," Shapiro said.

Here's how the MILK (Managing Information on Lost Kids) program works:

A company that buys the service gets a Web page designed to show that the company is participating in the program. The site includes a downloadable version of Imagery Concept's Home Organizer document imaging software that is customized for the company.

The organizer program acts as a filing cabinet so photos, birth certificates or other information can be retrieved quickly. Thousands upon thousands of cases lack good, recent photos that are so vital in recovering children, Shapiro said.

For information on the new program, check www.filepic.com/milk

Lorri Williams, mother of children ages 16, 14 and 12, said she is excited that Imagery is working with Union Public Schools so school patrons will be able to tap into the services.

"If, heaven forbid, your child should ever disappear, how long would it take to access a recent photograph and birth certificate or other documents you might need?" Williams said.

She said when her son was 9, he and a friend wandered away from baseball practice and got left behind when friends thought that the parents had picked up the children. For three hours, the boys huddled in the dark in a tube slide at a nearby playground while panicked relatives and friends searched.

"I can't even imagine being in that state and then trying to find photos and documents," she said. "I feel this is very, very valuable in helping parents when it comes down to an emergency situation."

And when the missing child situation is truly serious, the program has a direct link to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Shapiro said baby-sitters sometimes turn out to be abductors, and the program allows parents to download information from the national center on hiring a baby-sitter and what to look for when selecting a day care center.

"Thank you, on behalf of a lot of little people who are now home with their parents because of what you're doing," Shapiro said during the press conference.

The program also links to the national center's new Cybertipline to report incidents of child- sexual exploitation over the Internet.

Imagery Concepts also is giving Junior Achievement its Home Organizer programs. The National Volunteers Recognition Program is a thank-you to the nation's teachers and volunteers who work in the JA program, said Rob Rector, vice president of Imagery Concepts.

If the teachers and volunteers like the program and buy the company's system used to organize an office, FilePic, then Imagery Concepts will make a donation to JA. If they buy a Canon scanner to go with FilePic, Canon will give them a donation, Rector said.

The program will help JA reach 11 million students by 2005 to teach them about the free enterprise system.

"The idea is that after using it, the volunteers will purchase FilePic to organize their office documents," Rector said. "When their company buys the software, JA receives 20 percent."