Sarah Pruys
“On an average day between Canada and the U.S., there are approximately 2,500 kids that go missing.”
So notes Dan Thurber, newly-appointed provincial representative for Northwestern Ontario in Canada’s newest organization that helps find missing children: Bikers Urban Response Needed (B.U.R.N.)
Thurber, a Fort Frances general contractor, explained what the group is and it does.
“The organization is called B.U.R.N., which is a division of C.F.S.I. [Center For Search & Investigation],” he noted.
“These names are probably foreign to you now, but we are in 45 states and parts of Europe, in Australia, and growing,” Thurber said.
“We’re just introducing the whole organization to the Canadian public,” he noted. “We’ve been working on getting it here for about three months, and within the last month it’s really started to become cohesive.
Thurber first heard about B.U.R.N. through social media. And fittingly, social media is mainly how the organization operates.
“The organization is made up entirely of volunteers, and this organization happens to be made up of people who ride motorcycles,” he remarked.
“This is my main focus, but I support the local anti-bullying initiative and the chain-drug awareness, and things like that that have to do with kids.”
As the father of two boys, Thurber understood the importance of B.U.R.N. And as a motorcycle enthusiast, “. . . it was something that I could really get behind.”
“This organization is there to help reunite families, period,” Thurber stressed. “Whether it’s runaways, child trafficking, or family abductions.
“Anything that we can help with.”
Thurber explained the steps that occur when a child goes missing, for whatever reason.
“Any information that we could have given to us, either by the police or by another organization that’s involved, we would take all the pertinent information about the case and I would send it into our national office,” he noted.
“We would compile a missing poster, and then it goes into our system nationwide.
“Kids can disappear quickly, and a lot of miles can be put on,” he stressed.
Thurber noted that living in a border town makes it easy for a child abductor to head into the neighbouring country.
But since the project is worldwide, the neighbouring country could have the missing child’s information within 10 minutes of it being sent into the national office.
“All of our members who happen to be online, or are contacted however locally we can get a hold of people, we will let them know,” Thurber said.
“They basically will watch for the child or teen. We keep our eyes open.
“We canvass the last known area the child was either known or seen, and distribute the posters and talk to whomever we can,” he added.
“If there is a vehicle involved, we have a plan to monitor the roadways in and around that area.
“If we have a positive hit, then it goes directly to the local law enforcement.”
Thurber said their main goals are to ensure that the child is found safe and prevent them from being introduced into the unseemly world of child trafficking, which occurs far too often in about one-third of the cases of missing kids.
“We want to do our part to get these kids back into a safe environment by working with law enforcement and the parents/guardians,” he remarked.
“All I am asking of you is to recognize our sole efforts to get these kids where they belong, whether it is in the home or in a more sheltered/controlled environment if the home is not safe.
“Every time I see a found safe poster, as a parent, it makes every bit of effort I put into it worthwhile,” Thurber said.
What makes B.U.R.N. unique is the degree to which it utilizes social media.
“There are multiple organizations out there that share this information back and forth,” Thurber said. “And once it’s in social media, it’s not just individual members.
“Members are sharing it with all of their friends, and it just quantifies.
“It gets out there almost instantly,” he noted. “Far faster than any other organization, including law enforcement or ‘Amber Alert.’
“Social media is a huge tool and up to this point, social media really hasn’t been exploited that way,” Thurber added.
“I think it’s a great idea or I would not have got on board with it.”
Thurber said one of their our main focuses right now is to gain the trust and co-operation of local/provincial law enforcement agencies, other public services, and other organizations such as Child Find Canada and “Amber Alert.”
“It covers a vast area so quickly because every member of our organization shares those posters. It doesn’t have to be local,” he stressed.
“The success is amazing.
“Most of us carry a smartphone now; and I can update and send information in an instant,” Thurber noted. “So the technology is there for this to work really, really well.”
Thurber will be busy in the coming months as he continues to spread awareness.
“I am recruiting members locally,” he remarked. “You don’t need to be a biker. Anyone that’s on social media can help just by sharing the posters and by ‘liking’ the page.
“It’s a not-for-profit organization,” he added. “There are no membership dues.
“The only membership due is the willingness to help, and the desire to help.”
Thurber also said the recruiting is done pretty much grassroots.
“You’ll see me at the bass tournament and at other functions, just with a booth set up,” he noted.
“I’d like to introduce myself into the school boards in the fall.
“We are also developing child safety programs for parents to help them in the prevention and awareness of this,” Thurber added.
“The idea that ‘It can’t happen here’ is not true,” he stressed. “It can happen anywhere, and it does regularly.
“A lot of time you just don’t hear about it, and we would like to make it public, to discourage it, and to let potential child abductors know that they’re being watched.”
