Marvin Carpenter, local Farmers agent from Clearlake, is helping distribute the Managing Information on Lost Kids – or m.i.l.k. Digital ID.
What is m.i.l.k.? In January of 2000, Canon USA Inc. commissioned Imagery Concepts LLC to develop a digital ID for their charity of choice, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The m.i.l.k. Digital ID was designed to the specifications of the MCMEC.
The m.i.l.k. Digital ID program was designed to provide parents and caregivers a convenient location to store a digital photo and identification information regarding their children. It also creates a progressive “digital memory album.” Every six months, the software will remind the caregiver to update the photo in the Digital ID.
This information is stored on the hard drive of your computer and provides a vital identification tool in the event of an emergency. Law enforcement points out that in a missing person situation, rapidly distributing a current photo can be the difference between a fast recovery and a prolonged search. Should a person become lost or missing, with just a click, the Digital ID can be printed or sent via email to proper authorities and forwarded to the NCMEC or the National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA). This identification information is then broadcast to over 17,600 police departments and the vast database of NCMED Poster Partner members.
The m.i.l.k. Digital ID meets the standards established by NCMED for providing critical visual and narrative information to police. The primary goal of this program is to establish the world’s largest electronic dragnet for missing person recovery.
The m.i.l.k. Digital ID is an integral component for the Home Organizer Software. Home Organizer is a virtual filing cabinet that provides a simple method for organizing a home or home office. The software was developed to help Protect, Educate, and Organize. The Home Organizer also includes several safety related and educational brochures from many different organizations. For instance there is one area for saving information and creating Digital IDs for children, and another area for doing the same thing for your pets.
In order to make this software available to the people who most need it, Imagery Concepts has created a network of Distribution Partners for the m.i.l.k. program. Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is a major Distribution Partner with the NCMED in sponsoring m.i.l.k.-related events.
Carpenter recently offered the first of many such events at the Konocti Kids Day held in Clearlake on May 17. Carpenter explained that at the events, he offers a three-step program.
“First step is to take a digital picture of the child and give it to the parent on a CD, along with a free fingerprint kit,” he said. “Secondly, a contact card is filled out so that I can arrange a time to deliver and help install the free software, or for the family to pick up the software at my office. Thirdly, in the case of emergency, the software is utilized. There is of course no obligation. The software works twofold in that it also allows the family to take a complete inventory of their belongings in their home or office, and to collect important financial and personal information, all which can be saved onto your computer.”
The Konocti Kids Day event was sponsored by Carpenter’s Farmers Insurance Agency in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Clearlake, and the Clearlake Police Department.
“The possibility of a child going missing is a high stress situation,” said Carpenter. “The most important thing for a caregiver is to feel that he or she has something to do, immediately. With one email to the NCMEC, the program goes into effect. For this reason, the m.i.l.k. Program has been called the “First Step in the Amber Alert.”
Carpenter can be reached for further information regarding the program, either to offer the program at a Community Event, to present the program to a homeowners association, or to sign up to include your family under this protection, by calling 994-5650.
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