ALBUQUERQUE, NM — A 13-year-old boy who escaped the University of New Mexico Children’s Psychiatric Center on Tuesday was found Saturday, one day after a Brittany Alert was finally issued. The case has raised questions about why the warning was not sent out sooner after he climbed a fence around 2 p.m. and left the facility.
Albuquerque police found him near Central Avenue and Virginia Street while responding to a call for service. UNM Police said officers began searching right away, but the agency says it did not initially have enough information from UNMH about the boy’s mental condition to request the alert.
How The Search Unfolded
According to UNM Police, officers alerted the Albuquerque Police Department less than an hour after the boy went missing. Police also entered him into the National Crime Information Center and contacted the New Mexico Missing Persons Clearinghouse. CYFD later said it contacted UNM Police and APD the same day after learning the boy was missing more than an hour after he ran away.
The boy’s escape was not the first at the center. KOB 4 reported that he also escaped from a separate building in April and that he had run away twice from UNMH last week. In those earlier cases, UNM Police and Albuquerque police found him quickly.
Why The Alert Lagged
Officials said the Brittany Alert request came only after the Children, Youth and Families Department called Friday and provided enough information for the warning to be issued. Brittany Alerts require a clear indication that a missing person has a developmental disability, and UNM Police said that threshold was not met at first because of incomplete information from UNMH…