The Lassy Project™, a free smartphone app that helps prevent child abductions and the Town of Frederick Police Department are partnering to give parents the peace of mind that their children can travel safely throughout the community. The Lassy Project™ is relentlessly focused on preventing child abductions. Using a patented combination of GPS, SMS, and crowdsourcing technology, this program keeps kids safe by immediately alerting parents via text message if their child deviates from their usual routes to places like school or a friend’s house, then, if the child is missing, providing them the ability to press a button and mobilize hundreds of neighbors and community members in seconds to help. This group of community members is called the ‘Lassy Village™’. Every Frederick Police Officer is now in the village and encouraging the rest of the community to join them. During the month of July, 2014 the entire Frederick police force were trained on how to best utilize the app and register it on all of their cell phones. In this collaborative project, the Town of Frederick Police Department is helping to enroll as many members of the Frederick community as possible into the Village – including parents, community members, first responders, and local businesses. The goal is to grow the Lassy Village™ of Frederick as large as possible. To join the village, simply download and register the Lassy Project app from your app store. "Getting a message out in seconds to hundreds of individuals right near the area could make the difference between finding the child and not finding the child," said John Guydon, Co-Founder of The Lassy Project™. “We are honored to be supported by the Frederick Police Department and look forward to working with them to grow the Lassy Village in their community. The bigger the Village, the safer the kids. We are grateful that Frederick embrace this vision for their community.” “This is a promising new tool for parents to use in keeping track of their children.” Said Frederick Police Chief Gary Barbour. “It is easy to load onto a smart phone and to use. It provides a very fast way to call for help from others who are on the system. I suggest that interested parents look at the presentations on the website and then decide whether to use it.”