The FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team conducted a week-long training course for state and local law enforcement agencies. The training was hosted by the Mint Hill Police Department and included a full-scale exercise in the Ellington Farms neighborhood. Law enforcement officers received classroom training based on FBI investigations and took part in a “real-life” scenario involving the report of an abducted child. They followed leads and conducted a neighborhood canvas and other law enforcement activities as if they were investigating an actual case.

FBI CARD Teams are designed to provide on-the-ground investigative, technical, and resource assistance to state and local law enforcement. CARD Teams are primarily involved in non-family child abductions, ransom child abductions, and mysterious disappearances of children. They work with state and local law enforcement to protect and save the lives of innocent children. The CARD team, created in 2006, has been deployed more than 100 times for approximately 108 victims, both domestically and—when requested—abroad.

More than 20 law enforcement agencies across North Carolina took part in the training. This is the first time this type of course has been offered in the state of North Carolina. To learn more about the FBI’s CARD team, visit: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/may/investigating-child-abductions