Colonel Marian McGovern, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Matthews and Communications Director Blair Sutherland stand with call takers Eric Truesdale, Megan Gentile, Joseph Fantini and Adam DeFrancesco as they hold the NCMEC Program Partner Award recently presented to the State Police Communications Section.

Achievement Follows Rigorous Training in Best Practices for Call Takers

The Massachusetts State Police Communications Section has been recognized by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for surpassing the center's established standards for taking calls pertaining to endangered children. The Communications Section was presented with the National Center for Missing Exploited Children's Partner Program Award.

The recognition followed two years of tireless work by the Communications Section and the Massachusetts Missing Children Clearinghouse based at the Commonwealth Fusion Center. Massachusetts is the first state to develop and mandate its own model policy, based on the national standards, for handling cases of missing and exploited children. The state has also committed to training every call taker in best practices for taking such calls.

As a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children partner, the Massachusetts State Police Communications Center will be asked to participate in training development programs and test new approaches to finding missing children as quickly as possible. The recognition as a partner is a landmark achievement in the Department of State Police's critical mission to protect children in Massachusetts.