The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, The ECSO Office of Emergency Management, and the West Orange Police Department joined forces for a mock Child Abduction Response Training certification exercise at South Mountain Reservation in West Orange on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
The exercise was designed to test and strengthen coordinated law enforcement responses during missing child investigations. The simulation was monitored by the National Criminal Justice Center of Fox Valley Technical College.
Actors portrayed the victim, the suspect, the mother, and witnesses. Participating law enforcement personnel included ECSO search and rescue teams, ECPO Special Victims Unit investigators, drone units, K-9 units, and a real command post operating in real time throughout the exercise.
