Child identification program - MYCHIP—Masonic Youth CHild Identification Program

When I first noticed this headline in Wicked Local.com for Bedford, Massachusetts, I said to myself “here’s another story for my ‘you-couldn’t-make-it-up' category”, because it seemed that some mad people were ‘chipping’ children, just like you can chip pets.  It wasn’t until the second paragraph that I realised that ‘MYCHIP’ had nothing to do with RFID chipping at all and was, in fact, a charitable program offered to parents to collect identification material from their children in order to help law enforcement authorities find and identify a lost or missing child.

Here’s part of the story:

Child identification program

MYCHIP—Masonic Youth CHild Identification Program—with a new digital format— is free to the public and will be held 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Bedford Fire Department, 55 The Great Road. The MYCHIP program provides tools to help law enforcement authorities find and identify a lost or missing child.

Massachusetts Freemasons invite children age 18 and younger to participate in the most comprehensive child identification program of its kind. Each child will participate in a brief video interview, will be fingerprinted, and will have a cheek-swab and Toothprint® bite impression made by professional dental personnel. All materials are given to the parents for safekeeping. No copies are kept on file and the program is free to all.

So, actually, an interesting and obviously popular programme delivered in partnership with the Massachusetts Crime Prevention Officers Association (can’t find their website) and the Massachusetts Dental Association
...and, not being a Mason, unlike my brother (who’s a real one) http://www.beckfordsartworks.co.uk/ I had no idea they offered this sort of service.  You live and learn.

Read the rest at: http://www.wickedlocal.com/bedford/news/x1570567331/Out-About-in-Bedford-Things-to-do-this-weekend#ixzz2UwxaRCuj