Tri-county Child Abduction Response Team

Three counties have created a team that's prepared to respond to every parents' worst nightmare - a child abduction.

Adams' County Sheriff Sam Wollin has been with the department for 19 years, and said he has never had to respond to a child abduction case. However, Adams County, along with Wood and Juneau, are prepared if the situation were ever to arise.

The three agencies teamed up to create CART, the Child Abduction Response Team, equipped to address abduction scenarios.

"Our agency and some surrounding agencies in our rural environment recognized years ago that we would be depleted of resources very quickly if we had a true child abduction," said Lt. Ryan Greeno with the Adams County Sheriff's office.

In September, the three counties came together to practice a real-life abduction scenario, working with the local community and other agencies, as well as staged actors, to mimic an emergency situation.

The scenario ultimately ended successfully.

"At the end of our scenario we did find the child," said Sheriff Wollin.

Practicing scenarios like that prepare the team for a real life emergency.

"That's not the time for your law enforcement, or your law enforcement leaders in your community to be learning how to handle this situation," said Lt. Greeno. "That's why we've taken the steps to train and organize and prepare and be ready to respond to an incident like this."

The team is prepared to respond to something no one hopes ever happens.

"The incident that would require the deployment of the CART would be very serious, and we'd want to get as much resources to it as we can," said Sheriff Wollin. "Statistics have shown that the sooner we find the missing child, the increased chance of finding that child well."