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Code Adam,
one of the country's largest
child-safety programs, was created and promoted by the Wal-Mart®
retail stores and named in memory of 6-year-old
Adam Walsh whose
abduction from a Florida shopping mall and murder in 1981 brought the
horror of child abduction to national attention.
When a customer reports a
missing child to a store employee, a "Code Adam" alert is
announced over the public-address system. A brief description of the
child is obtained and provided to all designated employees who
immediately stop their normal work to search for the child, and monitor
all exits to help prevent the child from leaving the store.
If the child is not found
within 10 minutes of initiating a store-wide search, or if the child is
seen accompanied by someone other than a parent or guardian, store
personnel contact the local police department and request assistance.
Since the Code Adam
program began in 1994, it has been a powerful preventive tool against
child abductions and lost children in more than 45,000 stores across the
nation. Wal-Mart®, with the help of NCMEC, has generously
offered other retailers the opportunity to implement this powerful tool
against child abduction."
Look for this Code Adam decal in the windows of the stores you
and your family frequent.
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