Jeffrey Brown 16,[Found Safe] Msg 08/12/09, Hancock County MS

[sarahhod]

http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/817-grey.gif (http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/3887/0/0/%2a/q;44306;0-0;0;20525740;27085-850/30;0/0/0;;%7Esscs=%3f)
Student missing in Hancock County

Posted: Aug 12, 2009 11:47 PM GDT Wednesday, August 12, 2009 6:47 PM EST Updated: Aug 13, 2009 12:11 AM GDT Wednesday, August 12, 2009 7:11 PM EST

http://wlox.images.worldnow.com/images/279478_G.jpg Jeff Brown (Photo source: Hancock County School District)


By WLOX Staff
HANCOCK COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - A massive search was underway Wednesday night in the woods around Hancock High School for a student who didn't show up for his afternoon classes.
Jeffrey Brown was last seen wearing a red polo shirt and khaki shorts at the high school. The 16-year-old is about 5'2", is autistic, and new to the district.
School officials say they are worried because Brown could be lost in the dense woods surrounding the school.
Sheriff's deputies with dogs, the civil air patrol, mounted officers, school officials and volunteers are all participationg in the search.
A volunteer helping in the search did find the teen's bookbag. Jeffrey's mother, Clay Brown, told WLOX News that she's confident her son has not wandered far.
If you have any information regarding Brown, please call the Hancock County Sheriff's Department at (228) 255-9191.

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=10894500

[Faith]

I pray he is found soon.

[Pandabear]

Please let them find this young boy soon. :innocent0001:

[Faith]

This young man was found safe. I heard it earlier. I will find the article.

[Faith]

Missing Hancock Co. student found safe http://wlox.images.worldnow.com/images/static/container-e/icon_video_included.gif (http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=10922764)

http://wlox.images.worldnow.com/images/279478_G.jpg (http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=10922764)
Updated: Aug 13, 2009 6:48 AM CDT Thursday, August 13, 2009 7:48 AM EST A Hancock County teenager missing since Wednesday afternoon has been found safe and sound. Jeffrey Brown was discovered in the football field restroom about 6:15 Thursday morning. School officials say he was not hurt. More>> (http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=10922764)

[TigerLily]

Thanks for the update, Faith. Praise God, Jeff is safe.

[Faith]

Special ops troopers on call for emergencies

August 25, 2009

When Jeffrey Brown, an autistic teenager from Hancock County, went missing recently, it wasn't the first time the boy had taken off. The last time he had been gone for six days.

"He watched a lot of Rambo movies. He'd cover himself in mud and leaves and lay on the ground, and searchers would walk right past him without even realizing it," said Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop M's Master Sgt. Gerry Collins, the acting director for MHP's Special Operations Group

After Brown's disappearance some time during the day of Aug. 12, Collins and the SOG tracking team were called to Hancock County to pick up where civilians, law enforcement and National Guard searchers had left off. Troop M Public Affairs Officer Sgt. Rusty Boyd said nine SOG tracking team members were mobilized around 11 p.m. and reached the coast around 3 a.m. on Aug. 13.

"He'd went to Ocean Springs High and (his family) moved him to Hancock County, this was his first time to leave there," Boyd said about the missing teen.

Collins said his men began by searching the school grounds, adding that it was a very large campus. While his group staged in a parking lot to await a National Guard helicopter, a report came in of someone in the restroom area.

"We had just cleared it, but we got there and there was a light on. We went in and found him sitting on the floor in one of the stalls," Collins said. "We were very lucky to find him as soon as we did."

Three other members of Troop M are also a part of the SOG's tracking team, Boyd said. Sgt Steve Crawford and Trooper James Martin of Pike County, and Trooper Adam Speeg of Brookhaven were all on scene to assist in finding Brown.

Collins said troopers can volunteer to be a part of the special operations team, which entitles them to extra training in several areas since the SOG can handle anything from riot control to natural disaster-related situations to tracking and pursuit of missing people or escapees.

Statewide, the SOG has 74 troopers, broken up into a north, central and southern region. The Southern Region Tracking Team has 11 members, all of whom are trained extensively in finding people by surveying the terrain, such as foliage that's disturbed or other tell-tale natural signs.

"They're trained by specialists to learn to track people through the woods," Collins said, adding that tracking dogs can also be an important part of the mix.

Nine of the MHP's K-9 units are cross-trained to handle more duties as well, Collins said.

"Now that we're getting into tracking, we're trying to cross-train all our dogs to be available for our use in case we have that kind of a situation," Collins said.

MHP's bomb dogs, however, will remain specialized.

The team also uses thermal imaging devices that pick up heat, so even if someone is hiding in thick underbrush at night, the device makes them visible.

Collins said the SOG team, which aided greatly in the pursuit and capture of eight escaped inmates who bored through a wall of the Marion/Walthall Correction Facility in Columbia in February, is on call to help whenever there is a situation that calls for outside resources.

"We're here for support for our sheriff's departments and police departments," he said. "Anytime someone's got an inmate escape, a fleeing felon, a missing person, we'll send the tracking team if they request it."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20363281&BRD=1377&PAG=461&dept_id=172922&rfi=6