Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

The collective sigh of a relieved nation that greeted the safe return of 10-year-old Annaleise Davis masked the fact that at least five other children - three girls and a boy - children went missing last week.

Apart from Annaleise, 13-year-old Tiffany Green; 15-year-old Annekie Connikie; 16-year-old Reinhard Harrison; 13-year-old Yanique Esty and 14-year-old Kamoya Swaby's failure to return home last week has left family members and loved ones sick with worry.

But even more troubling is that while Annaleise's disappearance and subsequent return grabbed widespread public attention, the cases of at least three of the other five seemed to have failed to inspire more than passing glance.

This lack of fervour among the authorities to missing children cases in which parents or community members fail to sound thunderous alarm bells has raised questions as to whether the Ananda Alert system, announced with much fanfare last year, is functioning.

Not priority issues

When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the police for an update on their search for three of the children, the matters did not appear to be priority issues on their agenda.

In all three cases, The Sunday Gleaner ascertained that the police had no idea whether the children were still missing or had returned home.

Tiffany, who resides on Spanish Town Road, Kingston 13, has been reported missing since last Wednesday.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) had appealed to members of the public who knew of Tiffany's whereabouts to contact the Duhaney Park police.

However, yesterday a female officer at the station said she was unable to locate any information concerning Tiffany in the logbook.

The police reported that about 6:20 a.m., Tiffany left home for school and failed to return. Efforts by family members to contact her were futile.

When last seen, Tiffany was reportedly dressed in a blue blouse, blue tunic, blue socks and black shoes.

Similarly, the Lucea police were unable to shed any light on 15-year-old Annekie, who lives at Haughton Court district in Hanover's capital.

After an extensive search, a female officer actually found the information in the logbook stating Tiffany had gone missing. However, there was no development in the case of Annekie, who has been reported missing from home since Tuesday.

She is of dark complexion, slim build, about 162 centimetres (5'4") tall. Reports from the CCN are that about 5 in the afternoon, Annekie left home for an undisclosed location.

The Hunts Bay police were not any more helpful in the case of 16-year-old Reinhard Harrison of Lagos Drive, Kingston 13.

"We can't say anything ... . At times they (the missing children) may return and we don't receive a report, so we don't have additional information," a male police officer at Hunts Bay told The Sunday Gleaner.

However, he could not say whether any checks were made by the police to ascertain whether Reinhard had been found.

Reinhard has been reported missing since Thursday, October 15. He is of dark complexion, slim build and about 172 centimetres (5'8") tall.

The CCN said that about 9:30 p.m., Reinhard left home for an undisclosed location.

And, yesterday, the police reported that 14-year-old Kamoya Swaby of Weymouth Drive, Kingston 20, has gone missing since Friday. Kamoya is of dark complexion, slim build and about 157 centimetres (5 feet 2 inches) tall. When last seen, she was dressed in blue blouse, black jeans pants and gold-looking slippers.

Information received by the CCN is that about 9:15 Friday morning, Kamoya left home to attend school in St Andrew.

Concerned citizens

In the meantime, the Office of the Children's Registry says it has saved another child with the assistance of concerned citizens and the Spanish Town police.

The name of the child has not been released.

Andrae Bailey, one of the registration officers on duty, reportedly received a call from an individual who was concerned about a child he saw wandering around in the Twickenham Park area in St Catherine.

While the caller did not have adequate information to make a complete report, he gave a description of the child as well as information about where she could be found.

He contacted the Spanish Town Police Station, where he spoke with a member of the Juvenile and Missing Persons Office to whom someone had just completed a report about a missing child.

The police, accompanied by the child's relatives, immediately went in search and, upon further investigation, located her. The 13-year-old girl, who is said to be mentally challenged, was indeed the one reported missing.

The police then contacted the Children's Registry and asked for assistance in placing the child.

The Children's Registry says the case is now being addressed by the relevant authorities.

In 2008, there were 1,446 reported cases of missing persons of which 960 of them were children.

gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com