National Sheriffs’ Association Honors Cook County Sheriff’s Office (IL) with Crime Victim Services Award
National Sheriffs’ Association Honors Cook County Sheriff’s Office (IL) with Crime Victim Services Award
The National Sheriffs’ Association recognizes advocates for exemplary service to vulnerable populations.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) Child Rescue Unit in Cook County, Illinois, has been honored as the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) 2023 Crime Victim Services Award winner. Accepting the award for this group were CCSO personnel Deputy Chief Dion Trotter, Deputy Director Noureen Kapadia, Sergeant John O’ Farrell, Investigator Alvin Coleman, Investigator Keena Bradley, and Staff Wellness Chaplain Linda Ahrens.
NSA chose the CCSO Child Rescue Unit (CRU) for its work to locate missing and abducted children. The CCSO Child Rescue Unit has helped ensure that missing children do not become just another statistic. This specialized unit brings to focus that these children are valued and deserve to be found and protected.
Established in 2005 with support from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), the NSA Crime Victim Services Award recognizes outstanding achievement by a sheriff’s office in support of victims. It is sponsored by Equifax, the nation’s leading provider of victim notification services and developer of VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday).
"Equifax is pleased to once again sponsor the National Sheriffs’ Association award and is proud of the impressive work of the CCSO to find and protect children in their county," said Jarrod Carnahan, Vice President of Government & Victim Services, Equifax Workforce Solutions. “We hope their important efforts will inspire organizations across the country to have a similar impact on their communities.
Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart created the unit in 2012 to search for missing youth who were previously in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. At the time, no police agencies were focused on finding these children, who are often also victims of trafficking, drugs, violence, and other forms of abuse.
In 2016, the CRU partnered with DCFS child welfare specialists to locate missing youth who were previously in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services — a first of its kind in the state. The CRU also helps the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center locate missing youth and provides human trafficking awareness training to social services agencies throughout the county.
“When this unit was founded, our goal was simple — to help rescue children that felt alone, unseen, and left with nothing,” said Deputy Director Noureen Kapadia. “The success of this unit is not only affecting the children in need but the community as a whole. For the last 11 years, it has been our greatest joy and duty to protect the most vulnerable.”
Since its inception, the dedicated unit has found 1,158 children declared missing from the foster care system. Of those, 135 were found in the last year. Twenty-five children were under the age of 10 and another 18 were aged 11 to 13. CRU has also located seven families.
More information about the CCSO can be found at https://www.cookcountysheriff.org/.
About the National Sheriffs’ Association
The National Sheriffs’ Association is one of the largest associations of law enforcement professionals in the U.S., representing more than 3,000 elected Sheriffs across the nation, and with a total membership of more than 13,000. NSA is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the level of professionalism among sheriffs, their deputies, and others in the field of law enforcement, public safety, and criminal justice. Throughout its eighty-year history, NSA has also served as an information resource for all law enforcement, as well as state governments and the federal government.
