Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace announces that "Operation Safe Child" is now available at the Sheriff s Office through a partnership with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Sheriffs Association, the New York State Police, and the New York State Association of Chief’s of Police.

“Operation Safe Child" provides new ID cards (the size of a credit card) to parents across the state. It’s a voluntary new initiative that will help raise awareness about child safety and will help make the current Child ID system more readily available to parents throughout New York State. If any parent in Chautauqua County would like to have their child (less than 18 years of age) participate in this program they are asked to call 753-4900 to make an appointment with the Sheriffs Office or bring their child to one of the events listed on our online calendar. Their child’s picture, fingerprints, height, weight, color of hair and eyes, etc. will be taken. The ID card is then presented to the parent or guardian for safe keeping.

Additionally, with written consent by the child’s parent or guardian, The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services will be able to record and store these records - information critical to expediting the return of a child if he or she becomes missing. Operation Safe Child will be available to interested parents and families statewide. The information gathered will be digitally recorded and stored in a separate database at DCJS. In the event DCJS receives a missing child, the fingerprints of that child will be included in a special search file and compared against all incoming fingerprints submitted to DCJS. Once included in the database, parents or lawful guardians can request that information be purged at any time and when a chi1d turns 18, the information will automatically be purged from the database.

Facts About Operation Safechild

Click on image to view the Event Calendar