Police files detail hundreds of runaway reports from teen facility – NBC Chicago

Time and time again, calls to the Lake County Emergency Dispatch Center come in.

“I have to report a runaway…”

“It’s the Crisis Center…”

“It will be a young woman of 15 years old…”

Since 2012, the Crisis Center of Gary, an emergency shelter and treatment center for teenagers — some of whom are placed in Indiana's foster care system — has called Gary police more than 400 times.

More than 200 of those calls involved missing persons or runaway reports, according to an NBC 5 Investigates review of 911 dispatch recordings, police reports and body camera videos of the incidents.

Last year, 24 cases of runaways or missing persons were reported. As of early May of this year, at least seven cases were filed with Gary police.

Videos show the front door of the emergency shelter is equipped with an alarm, but it is not a locked facility, according to management. And staff told police that on some occasions the children would tell them they were leaving.

In one of the videos reviewed by NBC 5 Investigates, a staff member admitted last September that she waited nearly an hour to call police to report a teenage girl missing. On the body camera video, the officer can be heard asking why she waited. His response was that often teenagers are nearby and return on their own before the police arrive.

In this particular case, the then 17-year-old was found days later by his family wandering the streets of Gary. His family drove to Gary from outside Indianapolis and formed search teams after learning he had run away.

While some dispatch logs show children returned to the facility, other records are incomplete or unclear whether how many children — if any — remain missing.

NBC 5 investigations revealed that this problem was not isolated to a single establishment.

According to the Indiana Department of Child Services, 1,062 cases of runaways were reported last year at residential treatment centers across Indiana.

NBC 5 Investigates asked a DCS spokesperson if anyone from the agency was available to discuss the incidents or if efforts were underway to reduce the recurring number of incidents. On Friday, we were still waiting for a response.

In an emailed response, Crisis Center Executive Director Marion Collins declined our request for an interview, citing privacy concerns. She declined to answer follow-up questions generally about the incidents and criticism leveled at the facility.

Cecilia Garmon, a former employee, said she worked at the facility for nearly three years before leaving for another job.

In an interview with NBC 5 Investigates, she was still critical of facilities management.

She said employees can be hampered by understaffing and that children brought here have complex needs.

“Most staff are not trained and do not understand this demographic of children,” Garmon said. “So yes, there will be fights, there will be staff fighting with children. I saw the staff letting the kids fight.

Dispatch records we reviewed show at least 35 reports of battery or fights over the past 12 years.

“I've seen kids that we know we can't work with or we can't help, and they still take them to fill beds,” she said.

On Christmas Day, police body camera video reviewed by NBC 5 Investigates showed a Department of Children Services caseworker telling police and a paramedic they needed to remove a child.

“He self-harms by hitting his head on the ground. I can’t keep her safe and I can’t keep the staff safe,” the DCS social worker can be heard telling the officers.

A paramedic reluctantly agreed to transport the teen, but only after DCS and staff explained they were unable to provide care.

Two months later, police arrived to another escape report, this time involving an 18-year-old who records show was taking antipsychotic medication.

“It's just disheartening because, again, I've seen this done extremely well and I've seen it work where children have every opportunity to thrive and the crisis center is not everything just not that place,” Garmon said.

Online state financial records show the Crisis Center received more than $4 million from state agencies last fiscal year.