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CPD Tinkers With Missing Persons Alerts

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 8, 2009 6:20PM

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Family Photo of Jameshia, via the Trib
With the question of why a missing person alert for 12-year-old Jahmeshia Conner wasn't issued to the media hanging over its head, the Chicago Police Department is making changes to its alert system. The Tribune reports that 11 alerts have been issued in the last five days. Detectives investigating Jahmeshia's November 15th disappearance filed a report for an alert two days after she went missing but authorities are still looking into why the alert was never issued to the media; Jahmeshia was found dead in an alley early last week. Cindy Rudometkin of the Polly Klaas Foundation, though, expressed concern to the Tribune and called for discretion in issuing the alerts and the media's coverage of them: "If you put out an alert for every child, the alerts are not going to work anymore. People will become desensitized."