LES-MC Pilot Study Instrument

OMB No. XXXX-XXXX
Approval Expires XX/XX/20XX

Attachment A: Draft LES-MC Questionnaire
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS
MC1 Please give your contact information here so the researchers can reach you with any questions
after they review your survey. This information will be deleted as soon as the research team verifies that
your survey is complete.
 Name and title (1) ____________________
 Telephone number (2) ____________________
 Email address (3) ____________________
NISMART LES-MC Definition of Reported Missing
MC2 The incident number for this report is [number will be provided].
Please confirm that this incident involved a child, age 17 or younger, missing from a caretaker who
contacted your agency for help to either locate or recover the child.
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)
Box 1
If MC2 = 2 (not child reported missing) or MC2 = 3 (don’t know) and respondent has no additional surveys, go
to ENDSURVEY1. If MC2 = 2 or MC2 = 3 and respondent has additional surveys, go to ENDSURVEY2.

[NISMART Time Frame]
MC3 Did the initial call occur between [time frame to be established]?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, we cannot ask you to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to average 15 minutes per response for web administration and 30
minutes for telephone administration, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining
the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of
this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the National Institute of Justice, 810 Seventh Street NW,
Washington, DC 20531.

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Box 2
If MC3 = 2 (not in time frame) or MC3 = 3 (don’t know) and respondent has no additional surveys, go to
ENDSURVEY1. If MC3 = 2 or MC3 = 3 and respondent has additional surveys, go to ENDSURVEY2.

MC4 Did the person who reported this incident primarily want law enforcement to
 Locate and recover a child whose whereabouts were not known, or (1)
 Recover a child whose whereabouts were known? (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)
MC5 Did the person who reported this incident have an address, telephone number or other
information that worked to contact the child?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)
MC5a Was this incident submitted to ... (Please respond to both options)
Yes (1)

No (2)

Don't know/Cannot
determine (3)

National Crime
Information Center
(NCIC)? (1)







Missing Child
Clearinghouse for your
state? (2)







MC6 Was more than one child reported missing in this incident?





Yes, 2 children (1)
Yes, 3 or more children (Enter number) (2) ____ _______________________MC8
No, 1 child (3)___________________________________________________ MC9
Don't know/Cannot determine (4)___________________________________MC9

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MC7 How did the children know each other?







Siblings or step-siblings (1)_________________________________________MC9
Related as family some other way, such as cousins (2)___________________MC9
Living in a group home or treatment or detention facility for juveniles (3)___ MC9
Friends, acquaintances or schoolmates (4)____________________________ MC9
Something else (Please describe) (5) ____________________ ___________ MC9
Don't know/Cannot determine (6)__________________________________ MC9

MC8 How did the children know each other? (Please respond to all options.)
Yes (1)

No (2)

Don't know/Cannot
determine (3)

Siblings or step-siblings
(1)







Related as family some
other way, such as
cousins (2)







Living in a group home or
treatment or detention
facility for juveniles (3)







Friends, acquaintances or
schoolmates (4)







Something else (Please
describe) (5)







MC9 How was the person who reported the incident related to the child?
If more than one child was involved, please answer
about the closest relationship.








Parent or step-parent (1)
Other relative [This option will provide a pre-coded pull down list.] (2)
Employee of school or daycare (3)
Employee of group home or treatment, detention or other juvenile facility (4)
Someone else (Please describe) (5) ____________________
Don't know/Cannot determine (6)

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NISMART Categories of Missing Children
MC10 Does the incident log or record indicate that this episode involved any of the following? (Please
respond to all options.)
Yes (1)

No (2)

Don't know/Cannot
determine (3)

A runaway? (1)







A repeat runaway? (2)







A violation or alleged
violation of a custodial
order or agreement? (3)







A child who was lost,
stranded, injured or too
young to know how to
return home or make
contact with caretaker?
(4)







A child reported missing
because of a
misunderstanding or
other harmless
circumstance? (4)







A child missing under
unknown circumstances?
(5)







An abduction by a nonfamily perpetrator? (6)







A stranger abduction? (7)







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CHILD CHARACTERISTICS
MC11 Is this child male or female?

 Male (1)
 Female (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)

If more than one child was involved, please start
with the oldest.

MC12 How old was this child at the time of the initial call?
 Less than 1 year old (1)
 1 year old or older (Please enter age in years) (2) ____________________
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)
MC13 Is this child Hispanic or Latino/a?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)
MC14 What is this child's race?








White (1)
Black or African American (2)
American Indian or Alaska Native (3)
Asian (4)
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (5)
Other (6) ____________________
Don't know/Cannot determine (7)

Endangerment
MC15 Was this child at risk or endangered because of a medical condition, disability or other condition
or circumstance, such as drug use?
 Yes [This option will provide a pre-coded pull down list] (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)

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Definition of Recovery
MC16 What was the outcome of this incident for this child?





Returned (1)___________________________________________________MC19
Located but not returned (2)______________________________________MC18
Not returned and not located (3)
Don't know/Cannot determine (4)_________________________________ MC21

MC17 Sometimes records are not updated to show that a child has been recovered. Which do you think
is more likely?
 This child has not returned home, or (1)_____________________________ MC21
 This child has returned but the record has not been updated (2)__________ MC21
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)__________________________________ MC21
MC18 Please explain why the child was not returned.
[TEXT ENTRY]_________________________________________________
Box 3
If MC16 = 2 (located not returned), go to MC20.

MC19 (If returned)
How much time passed from the initial call to your agency until this child’s return home)? (Your best
estimate is fine.) Please enter the number of hours, days, weeks or months below.






Hours (1) __________ ___________________________________________MC21
Days (2) ___________ ___________________________________________MC21
Weeks (3) _________ ___________________________________________MC21
Months (4) ________ ___________________________________________MC21
Don't know/Cannot determine (5)__________________________________ MC21

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MC20 How much time passed from the initial call to your agency until the child was located? (Your best
estimate is fine.) Please enter the number of hours, days, weeks or months below.






Hours (1) ____________________
Days (2) ____________________
Weeks (3) ____________________
Months (4) ____________________
Don't know/Cannot determine (5)

MC21 Was this child reported missing at any other time between [time frame of study]?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know/Cannot determine (3)

Box 4
If MC6 = 1 (multiple children), questions MC11—MC21 will repeat for each child. After last child, go to MC21.

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POLICE RESPONSE
MC22 During the initial call was information logged about ... (Please respond to all options)
Yes (1)

No (2)

Don't know/Cannot
determine (3)

Where child was last
seen? (1)







Who child was with when
last seen? (2)







Child's physical
description and clothing?
(4)







Whether child has
medical conditions,
disabilities? (5)







Whether child had cell
phone? (6)







Any mode of travel for
child (walking, bicycle,
motor vehicle)? (7)







MC23 How did your agency respond to this incident? (Please answer all options.)
Yes (1)

No (2)

Don't know/Cannot
determine (3)

Sent officers to a child's
household or to the
scene (1)







Interviewed household
members (2)







Got child photos (3)







Collected other evidence
(4)







Conducted a search (5)







Secured the scene (6)







Investigated or
responded in other ways
(Describe) (7)







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MC24 Did your agency bring other agencies into an investigation or refer the case to another agency?





Yes, brought other agency or agencies into the investigation (1)
Yes, referred the case to another agency (2)
No (3)
Don't know/Cannot determine (4)
Box 5

If MC24 = 3 (did not bring in/refer to other agencies) or MC24 = 4 (don’t know) and respondent has no
additional surveys, go to ENDSURVEY3. If MC24 = 3 or MC24 = 4 and respondent has additional surveys, go to
ENDSURVEY4.

MC25 What agencies were brought into the investigation or did you refer the case to? Please list each
agency by name, county and state.
[TEXT ENTRY]_________________________________________________

Box 6
If MC24 = 1 or MC24 = 2 (brought in or referred to other agencies), and respondent has no additional surveys,
go to ENDSURVEY3. If MC24=1 or MC24 = 2 and respondent has additional surveys, go to ENDSURVEY4.

We would now like to ask you just a few questions about your experiences answering questions about
this case.
MC26 First, did you find any questions difficult to answer? If so, which ones and what them difficult?
MC27 Are there any questions I should have asked about this case but didn’t? If yes, what other parts
of the case should we know about?
MC28 How did you feel about the length of the survey?
ENDSURVEY1 We are only including certain incidents in this study and this case does not qualify. There
are no further questions about this case. Thank you for your time.

ENDSURVEY2 We are only including certain incidents in this study and this case does not qualify. Please
use this link to access questions about your next case that may qualify for this study: [To be added].

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ENDSURVEY3 Thank you for completing this survey. We appreciate your help and your contribution to
understanding the problem of children reported missing.

ENDSURVEY4 Thank you for completing this survey. We appreciate your help and your contribution to
understanding the problem of children reported missing. Please use this link to access questions about
your next case that may qualify for this study: [To be added].

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