Free child ID service to be offered at Cape theater this weekend

The Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Chaffee, Mo., Masonic Lodges will assist the Missouri Child Identification Program (MOCHIP) on Saturday in its goal to keep children safe by sponsoring an identification event at Wehrenberg Theatres.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Masonic Lodge volunteers will be offering free child identification to any child or teen, up to 21 years old.

MOCHIP, rated the No. 1 child identification program in the country, strives to give families a tool to use in the event their child goes missing or is abducted.

Microchips are not used in the program, according to St. Mark's Lodge No. 93 secretary David Rutherford. The program provides a miniature computer disc to the parents with all the information law enforcement would need if their child was missing.

At the movie theater Saturday, Masonic Lodge volunteers will record the child's vital information, including address, parents, an alternative contact and fingerprints. They'll also take a photograph of each child from the front and from the side.

"We always include the ear, they're unique. People can be identified by their ears," Rutherford said.

A dental bite impression will also be taken from each child, which, like a fingerprint, is unique to each person. The impression also collects enough saliva to get a DNA sample and a scent for canine search teams.

"We destroy our records. We only keep the permission slip that allowed us to do it," Rutherford said. "There are some databases that have gotten broken into, and we don't have a database."

The process takes 15 to 20 minutes per child. The program has held 586 events in Missouri, with more than 94,000 children being identified.

It's the eighth event St. Mark's Lodge No. 93 of Cape Girardeau has sponsored in less than four years.

It's helped to recover several missing children, Rutherford said, including two locals.

"We can't release any information about those children, but that's as it stands right now," Rutherford said.

Sponsors for the event include Missouri Masonic Children's Foundation, Chaffee Lodge No. 615, Excelsior Lodge No. 441 in Jackson and St. Mark's Lodge No. 93.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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Pertinent Address:

247 Siemers Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO