MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Troop A - 504 SE Blue Parkway - Lee's Summit, MO 64083
NEWS RELEASE
For further information please contact:
Sgt. Bill Lowe
(816) 622-0800 ext. 3159
A2019-4
August 8, 2019
EMPHASIS:
Missouri State Highway Patrol Assists With Operation H.O.P.E.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol joined more than a 100 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers this week in a statewide effort to ensure the safety and well-being of Missouri’s foster children. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Kansas City Region led the investigation. Operation H.O.P.E. (Helping Oppressed People Escape) is an initiative aimed at locating and recovering children missing from Missouri’s Foster Care Program. The operation resulted in successfully locating 23 program runaways from age 13 to 17.
Operation H.O.P.E. focused on the Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield metropolitan areas, and ultimately spanned across several Missouri counties. The goal of the officers was to ensure the safety of the foster children, while identifying and eliminating fraud and abuse occurring within Missouri’s Foster Care Program. As a direct result of this operation, five individuals were arrested, and 23 additional investigations were generated, four of which are for human trafficking.
The following agencies and departments participated in this week’s operation:
Missouri State Highway Patrol
Missouri Information and Analysis Center
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Office of Audit Services
U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations
Federal Bureau of Investigations - St. Louis Field Office
U.S. Marshals Service
U.S. Attorney’s Office - Eastern District of Missouri
U.S. Attorney’s Office - Western District of Missouri
U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
Missouri Attorney General’s Office
Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division, Division of Legal Services, Office of Child Advocate, Division of Finance and Administrative Services
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Kansas City Police Department, Kansas City, Missouri
Metropolitan Police Department, St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis County Police Department
Webster Groves Police Department
St. Louis City and County Juvenile Courts
Springfield Police Department
Greene County Sheriff’s Office
Greene County Juvenile Services
Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Polaris Project - National Human Trafficking Hotline
National Runaway Safeline
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