WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |SMARTRing mistake angers many

SMARTRing mistake angers many

By Caroline Moses - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - About 200,000 people in East Baton Rouge Parish received an alert from the sheriff's office SMARTRing system around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning about a missing 12-year-old boy, but the call was supposed to only go out to a fraction of the people disturbed and many are upset about the early morning wake-up call.

According to East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's officials, regardless how many people were bothered by the early morning call, it helped bring a young boy home safely. They believe operator error caused the alert to reach 80,000 households. They intended for the call to reach homes only within a one-mile radius of where Sharkmen Cox went missing.

"We've never had that problem before, and it may have been entered incorrectly by accident," said Casey Hicks with the sheriff's office.

Cox was last seen at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Shenandoah around 7:30 Wednesday night. He called his father to pick him up and from there, authorities believe he wandered off. His family, community and deputies were on edge and unsure.

"When eight hours passed and no one had seen this boy, deputies became very concerned that it was a possible child abduction," said Hicks.

It's times like those, when someone's life could be on the line, that sheriff's officials are most likely to use the SMARTRing call-out system, even if it is 1:30 in the morning.

"I can understand their concern, but 1:30 a.m. to call everyone in East Baton Rouge, it's a little much," said William Starr.

At the time, deputies had no reason to think Cox may have run away. They later learned his family is about to move out of state, so his disappearance may have been a display of angst.

"We never want to be alarmists," said Pastor Tommy Middleton of Woodlawn Baptist Church. "We never want to overreact, but it's worse to under-react in a situation we may find down the road was very critical."

Eventually, a person who lived near Bluebonnet Boulevard, which is well outside the one-mile range from Woodlawn Baptist Church, received the call and recognized Cox.

"If I have to lose a couple of minutes of sleep or an hour or two to help somebody find their child, I figure it's the least we could do," said Glenda Floreth.

The sheriff's office is trying to pinpoint exactly how so many people were called, so it can prevent the problem from happening again. The SMARTRing call-out system will remain in use for any emergency situations. To sign up for the SMARTRing system, click here.

According to police, Cox ran away again less than an hour after being returned home and is again missing. He is 5'8" and weighs 150 lbs. He has short, sandy blond hair and was last seen wearing a blue polo shirt, khaki pants and white hi-top sneakers. Cox is an avid swimmer and has been known to frequent areas near swimming pools.

Anyone with information on Sharkmen Cox should contact the Baton Rouge Police Department at 389-2000.

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