{"id":281512,"date":"2019-11-07T06:48:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T14:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=281512"},"modified":"2025-07-07T13:49:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T20:49:25","slug":"mapping-canadas-missing-children","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Canada&#8217;s Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family"},"author":5242,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[211],"tags":[394072,394062,160532,23512],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478532],"esri_blog_department":[478242],"class_list":["post-281512","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-safety","tag-awareness","tag-children","tag-police","tag-search-and-rescue","esri-blog-category-analytics","esri_blog_department-public-safety"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"The MCSC rescu app uses location intelligence to help police and concerned citizens find missing children in Canada.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Key Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Police in Canada have a new dedicated missing children app to enlist help from citizens.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The online app puts missing children on a map and helps determine where they may have traveled.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Working across all jurisdictions in Canada, the app holds promise for improved collaboration and speedier communications.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"When parents are hit with the indescribable feeling that comes with the realization that their child is missing, every moment counts. Fortunately, most of these events resolve quickly with the safe return of a child who may simply be hiding, was lost, or has run away from home. According to the National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children, 94 percent of recovered children are found within 72 hours, with 47 percent found within three hours.\r\n\r\nThese facts, however, do little to diminish a parent\u2019s panic and dread that the worst has happened.\r\n\r\nThe best strategy to quickly return a child home safely is to get a photograph of that child in front of as many people as possible as soon as possible. A new application developed for the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) puts those photos on a map\u2014sending alerts to nearby citizens and agencies and gathering tips from anyone who may have information.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen a child goes missing, they are at risk of being abused, sexually exploited, or becoming a victim of human trafficking,\u201d said Amanda Pick, CEO of MCSC. \u201cThe risk can be quite severe and it can increase with each passing hour.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":281542,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/rescu.mcsc.ca"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3 class=\"ai-optimize-14\"><strong>Confronting a Common Problem<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-15\">In 2018, more than 42,000 children\u2014115 per day on average\u2014were reported missing in Canada.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-16\">\u201cThat\u2019s a shocking and sobering statistic,\u201d Pick said. \u201cWhen people hear that number there\u2019s a pause, because we simply don\u2019t expect the number to be that large.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-17\">Staff at MCSC teamed with developers from Esri Canada to create a web-based mapping app called <a href=\"https:\/\/rescu.mcsc.ca\/\">MCSC rescu<\/a> that uses Esri\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-hub\/overview\">ArcGIS Hub<\/a> technology to help reunite children with their families. Visitors to the app can see all active cases, with photos and details of children mapped to their last known location. The site includes a form that allows anyone to leave a confidential tip, including adding photos. It also provides a registry that people can join to receive an SMS alert directly from police if a child goes missing in their area.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-18\">\u201cIf a child goes missing under any circumstance, and the police immediately want to engage the community to help collect information, the tool provides the means to do that,\u201d Pick said. \u201cWe know that Canadians want to help, and the app gives them that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"ai-optimize-19\"><strong>Providing Police with a Powerful Tool<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-20\">The vision for this solution started with police and the desire to equip front-line responders with a way to engage the community. Police have the Amber Alert system, which issues messages to smartphones and roadway signs. But the threshold to create an Amber Alert is quite high, only 10 were issued last year.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-21\">\u201cWhat about all the other children?\u201d Pick said. \u201cWho are they, and how do we share that information? How can we help?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-22\">Those questions drove the architecture for the app\u2014a tool police can use to spread awareness across jurisdictional boundaries at the local, provincial, country, and even cross-border levels.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-23\">\u201cHaving pictures of a missing child, a potential offender, or a potential vehicle, that\u2019s really a gamechanger for us,\u201d said Cliff O\u2019Brien, acting deputy chief of the Bureau of Community Support at the Calgary Police Service. \u201cEvery minute that goes by when there\u2019s a missing child is not only anguish for the parents, but it puts the child in more danger.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-24\">MCSC and Esri Canada designed the app to keep police in charge of determining which cases cross the threshold of a high-risk situation. High risk might include a child on medication or with a medical issue, a child lured away by a predator or at risk of abduction, or a child caught in a contentious custody battle, among other factors.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-25\">The app provides flexibility to alert citizens about children that don\u2019t merit an Amber Alert, O\u2019Brien explained, as well as giving police more control of the information released to the public. \u201cWe can release as little or as much as we need to. We may have other investigative strategies at play and may want information placed in specific geographies. We can push alerts to people in specific locations, even down to a certain street.\u201d<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":281622,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3><strong>Causing Predator Paranoia<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe power of social media and location-specific information played out in a recent case where a 31-year-old man abducted a 14-year-old girl from the province of Alberta to British Columbia.\r\n\r\nThe Calgary Police Service reached out to Vancouver Police Department officers, alerting them that the predator was headed their way. At that time, the app was not yet released. However, a flurry of social media posts and news reports kept the abductor on the run, and he returned to familiar territory in Calgary where he was apprehended, and the girl was returned to her family.\r\n\r\nThe promise of the app to create greater connections\u2014using crowdsourcing to guard and protect the safety of children\u2014has a lot of stakeholders excited.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis technology will really help us communicate directly with any community anywhere in Canada where we think a missing child from our jurisdiction might be,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThe same goes for any small department all the way up to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP]. It ties us all together from coast to coast.\u201d\r\n\r\nAccording to Pick and the staff at MCSC, the app\u2019s central purpose is to return missing children to safety. But, if it helps to stop predation patterns because potential predators know there\u2019s nowhere they can safely hide, that will be an added benefit.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt gets emotional when you start to think about the safety of the children you know,\u201d Pick said. \u201cWe all want to protect our own, our nieces and nephews, our neighbors\u2019 children, and all the children in our community.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":281552,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h3><strong>Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn June 2019, Canada\u2019s prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke about murders and disappearances of indigenous women and girls across Canada in recent decades, calling it an act of \u201cgenocide.\u201d This comment came at the close of an investigation that found indigenous women and children are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered than any other demographic group in Canada.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis history guides our actions,\u201d said Tsuu T'ina First Nation Police Service inspector Steve Burton. \u201cThe minute that we get a missing persons complaint, we immediately dedicate all our available resources to locating that person.\u201d\r\n\r\nFirst Nations peoples often travel from reserve to reserve across broad areas and cross the border into the United States, particularly during the Pow Wow season of celebrations and dances in the summer months.\r\n\r\n\u201cWith all those activities and events going on, it does pose a bit of a difficulty at times to identify and locate people who are on the move,\u201d Burton said.\r\n\r\nSocial media is often the first place investigators look at the start of any investigation.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe look across social media\u2014Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, what have you\u2014to see someone\u2019s last known communications and also to spread the word about the missing,\u201d Burton said. \u201cAccessing all of these sites takes time, so having the MCSC rescu app as a dedicated platform that creates a quick alert, especially in our First Nations communities where it\u2019s an ongoing issue, could really help keep more children safe.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe app also fosters collaboration.\r\n\r\n\u201cOne of the problems the policing community faces is the siloing of different agencies,\u201d Burton said. \u201cIn Calgary, the different detachments that surround our area are breaking down those barriers, communicating more, and working collaboratively with a regional perspective. The MCSC rescu app will further break down those barriers and will make our national partners more aware and involved.\u201d\r\n\r\nA new ring road is being developed around Calgary that swings through the Tsuu T\u2019ina Nation, which will bring more people, and children, into the area. Here, police service has developed a close alliance across jurisdictions, aided in part by the MCSC rescu app.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe are going to have a lot of citizens of Calgary and their children out here on the nation, and they deserve to be as safe as our children deserve to be,\u201d Burton said.\r\n\r\n\u201cYour race or where you live in Canada doesn't matter, we're looking out for all children,\u201d added O\u2019Brien.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":284662,"text":"It soon became evident that the sharing was just the spot to start. The bigger opportunity was about making it into a system of support that has a real power to change outcomes.","author_name":"Amanda Pick","author_profession_organization":"CEO, MCSC"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3><strong>Enabling a Digital Transformation<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe MCSC staff realized they needed technology to bridge the gap between the few children whose circumstances qualified for an Amber Alert and the vast number of children reported missing. They engaged with Esri Canada to discuss and fine-tune the software architecture of the solution and in the process embarked on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/digital-transformation\/overview\">digital transformation<\/a> for the organization.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe started by talking about communicating and sharing through geography,\u201d Pick said. \u201cIt soon became evident that the sharing was just the spot to start. The bigger opportunity was about making it into a system of support that has a real power to change outcomes.\u201d\r\n\r\nMany MCSC investigators are retired police investigators.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf you\u2019ve worked a missing child or abducted child case that\u2019s never been resolved, I can tell you that those can haunt you,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cYou\u2019ll always go over details in your mind, wondering if there\u2019s something that you missed.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn its focus on missing children, the MCSC staff tuned their system back-end for internal reporting to organize staff workflows, and to deliver tools and dashboards for greater police awareness.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen I understood that ArcGIS Hub can power a smart city, it got me thinking that a city is only as smart as how it can protect its most vulnerable citizens,\u201d Pick said. \u201cCombining the capabilities of data, collaboration, and support services that persist around a problem\u2014there\u2019s just so much potential there.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>Taking Informed Action<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nLaw enforcement officers and MCSC staff have been urging people to sign up for the alert service in the recently launched MCSC rescu app to prepare for any local incidents.\r\n\r\n\u201cI see this playing out well in my jurisdiction in our 24-hour real-time operation center,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIf our incident commanders who are taking care of our city get a call, particularly if witnesses suspect an abduction, it allows them to flood the area with notifications within minutes.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Calgary Police Service helicopter is equipped with a loud-speaker system for broadcasting alerts and descriptions over an area of interest. Adding the ability to share a photo and description with the community could help return a child to safety within minutes instead of hours or days as it is in some cases.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe app includes a map that indicates how far someone could travel within a designated interval of time\u2014whether walking or in a vehicle\u2014from the place where a child went missing,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThat\u2019s really powerful. It takes some of the guesswork out and communicates where we should set up our check-points or look for a vehicle.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhile O\u2019Brien cautions that the public should never go directly to an active crime scene, he notes they can take several steps when they receive an alert.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe need people to look out their window, in their backyard, and around their property,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWe want them to have awareness and extra vigilance if they\u2019re driving to and from a store\u2014keeping eyes and ears open. If we\u2019ve pushed an alert to you, and you see the offender, phone 9-1-1. Be safe but try to keep your eyes on them and we will respond to that area in force.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":281602,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3 class=\"ai-optimize-6\"><strong>Spreading Nationwide<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-7\">The Calgary Police Service has pushed the MCSC rescu app to each of the 3,000 work phones officers carry. All employees are encouraged to sign up and ask their families to install the app on their personal phones.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-8\">The application has been endorsed by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police as well as various provincial-level police associations and city-level jurisdictions. RCMP has also taken an interest, with an agreement in place to work with MCSC to support missing children investigations using MCSC rescu and the network across Canada. Large corporations are also asked to spread the word and involve employees.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-9\">\u201cWe have put in a great deal of work already, but we know our journey is just beginning,\u201d Pick said. \u201cThere is an incredible opportunity to evolve and customize the app to provide really powerful change moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-10\">\u201cI can\u2019t think of anything more noble than law enforcement and community coming together to protect our children,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-11\">At MCSC, staff share an ongoing objective to empower children.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-12\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been serving children and families at our organization for more than 30 years,\u201d Pick said. \u201cOur work has evolved, but all our efforts activate in response to a child that has gone missing. There\u2019s an acute need to create a full circle where a child who needs us can let us know.\u201d<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-13\">Learn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-hub\/overview\">platform that powers the MCSC rescu app<\/a>.<\/p>"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mapping Canada&#039;s Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Missing Children Society of Canada worked with Esri Canada to develop the MCSC rescu app, helping police and concerned citizens locate missing children.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mapping Canada&#039;s Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Missing Children Society of Canada worked with Esri Canada to develop the MCSC rescu app, helping police and concerned citizens locate missing children.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-07T20:49:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Empty_Swing_826.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Esri\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Mapping Canada's Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-11-07T14:48:03+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2025-07-07T20:49:25+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The Missing Children Society of Canada worked with Esri Canada to develop the MCSC rescu app, helping police and concerned citizens locate missing children.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Mapping Canada&#8217;s Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Esri\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Esri Newsroom\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/ecc6ee1fd85086a2fc24eba0e9372e7c\",\n\t            \"name\": \"John Beck\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Beck_John-768x768.jpg\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Beck_John-768x768.jpg\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"John Beck\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"description\": \"John Beck is the Director of Law Enforcement Solutions at Esri where he is responsible for helping police agencies worldwide understand and implement GIS for every mission. Before joining Esri, Beck was a police officer and crime analyst in Nevada. In his role at Esri, he helps police agencies apply GIS to crime analysis, strategic planning, patrol operations, investigative support, and citizen engagement. John has also worked with agencies to implement GIS for open and transparent policing and to tackle hard problems like the opioid epidemic and homelessness. He is also helping police realize the value of new geospatial technologies including machine learning and big data analysis to gain a real-time understanding of crime patterns and make better informed decisions. John earned undergraduate degrees in geography and anthropology and a master\u2019s degree in criminal justice from the University of Nevada.\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/author\/john_beck\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mapping Canada's Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family","description":"The Missing Children Society of Canada worked with Esri Canada to develop the MCSC rescu app, helping police and concerned citizens locate missing children.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mapping Canada's Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family","og_description":"The Missing Children Society of Canada worked with Esri Canada to develop the MCSC rescu app, helping police and concerned citizens locate missing children.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children","og_site_name":"Esri","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","article_modified_time":"2025-07-07T20:49:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Empty_Swing_826.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Esri","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children","name":"Mapping Canada's Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-11-07T14:48:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-07T20:49:25+00:00","description":"The Missing Children Society of Canada worked with Esri Canada to develop the MCSC rescu app, helping police and concerned citizens locate missing children.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-canadas-missing-children#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mapping Canada&#8217;s Missing Children to Quickly Reunite Them with Family"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/","name":"Esri","description":"Esri Newsroom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/ecc6ee1fd85086a2fc24eba0e9372e7c","name":"John Beck","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Beck_John-768x768.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Beck_John-768x768.jpg","caption":"John Beck"},"description":"John Beck is the Director of Law Enforcement Solutions at Esri where he is responsible for helping police agencies worldwide understand and implement GIS for every mission. Before joining Esri, Beck was a police officer and crime analyst in Nevada. In his role at Esri, he helps police agencies apply GIS to crime analysis, strategic planning, patrol operations, investigative support, and citizen engagement. John has also worked with agencies to implement GIS for open and transparent policing and to tackle hard problems like the opioid epidemic and homelessness. He is also helping police realize the value of new geospatial technologies including machine learning and big data analysis to gain a real-time understanding of crime patterns and make better informed decisions. John earned undergraduate degrees in geography and anthropology and a master\u2019s degree in criminal justice from the University of Nevada.","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/author\/john_beck"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/281512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/281512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281512"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=281512"},{"taxonomy":"esri-blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/esri-blog-category?post=281512"},{"taxonomy":"esri_blog_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/esri_blog_department?post=281512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}