In and effort to protect our children and promote safety in our community, Michael F. Hupy and Associates, S.C., has spearheaded a child fingerprint identification program. The program, which our law firm began in 2000, was highlighted in Milwaukee’s Dineen Park for the annual National Night Out event on August 6 2002. The program was considered a huge success as the Hupy Law Firm fingerprinted nearly 300 children.

The National Night Out event is designed to promote police-community partnerships which will assist in eliminating crime, drugs and violence, and promote safety and neighborhood involvement. Nationally, over ninety-seven hundred communities and thirty-three million people participate in the event annually. There were more than one thousand participants at Dineen Park alone. Joining the Hupy Law Firm at the event were Milwaukee Aldermen, Fire Department and Police Department representatives, and other community leaders.

The Hupy Identification Program provides parents with a child identification packet that allows parents to keep updated information on their children. The identification packet contains a photo, fingerprints, a DNA sample and dental and medical information for each child. Attorney Michael Hupy was eager to participate in the program. “Our children are our most precious asset, and therefore, we believe our involvement in the program is a vital service to the community,” Hupy stated.

The Hupy Law Firm has also joined other state organizations in calling for the implementation of the Amber Alert system in Wisconsin. The system would interrupt radio and television broadcasts with immediate news of child abductions so motorists as well as authorities can be on the lookout. The system has been implemented in 41 communities nationwide, is credited with saving at least 17 children, including two California girls abducted in August 2002.

Perhaps at no other time has the need for programs such as the Hupy Identification Program and Amber Alert been so great. Recent disappearances and kidnappings, including Milwaukee’s Alexis Patterson, have heightened our awareness of the need for child identification. “If the Hupy Law Firm fingerprints thousands of children and our program saves the life of just one child, I would consider it a major success,” Attorney Chad Kreblin stated at the National Night Out event. If you have an event or program at which you would like Michael F. Hupy & Associates, S.C., to fingerprint children, please contact Attorney Kreblin at (414) 223-4800.