An operation led by the Michigan State Police along with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) and other Michigan law enforcement agencies found over 100 missing children during a one-day sweep in Wayne County last month, reports Rolling Stone. Operation MISafeKid was the first of its kind in the county and sought to identify and recover 301 missing children. The sweep emphasized locating victims of sex trafficking.
“We went out and checked last known addresses, schools and parents to find out if they were still missing, or if the parents never went back to contact law enforcement to see if they’d been removed from the system,” Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw told the Detroit News, according to Rolling Stone. “We located 107; 103 of them were either at home or where they belonged.”
The U.S. Marshals put out a press release earlier this month saying 123 children had been located, which is 16 more than the State Police tally.
The U.S. Marshals and the Michigan State Police confirmed that of the 107 children recovered, three were identified as being possible sex trafficking cases, and a fourth case involved a homeless 14-year-old who was abandoned by his mother after his father went to prison. The remaining children who were found weren’t actually missing, reports Rolling Stone. Many had been reported missing in the past but their guardians did not update law enforcement that they’d returned home or had been found.
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