Child Identification Cards
Katy makes it easy to help ensure the safety of your child
The Katy Police Department offers a service to help locate lost or abducted children. The Kid ID Â program provides parents with a photo ID card for their children. But this is no ordinary photo ID card.
Sergeant J. L. Field, the police officer in charge of the program for Katy Police Department, says that this card is connected to a national database, which can be accessed by any police department in the U.S. Once all identifying information about your child is collected, it is sent to the KidID.org along with the card information.
My daughter and I had my granddaughter go through the ID card process at the main police department. It took all of 20 minutes. During the process, Sgt. Field took two photos of my granddaughter – one facing the camera and a profile photo. He also took a photo of my daughter (granddaughter’s mom) facing the camera. Mom’s photo and the profile photo do not appear on the card, but are attached to the profile which is uploaded to the KidID.org data bank.
Sgt. Field took digital fingerprints of my granddaughter’s thumb and forefinger on both hands. Field said the digital fingerprints are much clearer than the old ink and paper method for obtaining prints. In fact, they are considered American Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) quality prints. Sgt. Field also collected identifying information including: my granddaughter’s name and address, names of her mother and father, and contact numbers for people to be called in case she is located. He also recorded my granddaughter’s physical description – height, weight, age, birthday and birthmarks.
All of the information, photos and fingerprints are now uploaded to the KidID.org site, and my daughter has attached her personal password to the account by signing in online as soon as she got home. Sgt. Field printed out two ID cards, one for each parent, that shows my granddaughter’s photo and physical description on the front and has the KidID.org site information on the back. Should she get lost or kidnapped – God forbid! – we simply have to present the card to the police officer and he can use KidID.org to help locate her.
The Katy Police Department purchased all of the equipment (computer, digital camera, digital fingerprint attachment, and card printer) a year ago for around $16,000 and have been putting it to very good use since then.
 The ID cards cost nothing – except about 20 minutes of your time for each child. We were able to walk in and get it done on the spot. If you family has 3 or more children, however you may want to make arrangements with Sgt. Field in advance.
The Katy Police Department main station is located at 5456 Franz Road in downtown Katy, about a quarter mile from the Mary Jo Peckham Park. They can be contacted by phone at 281-391-4848 or by E-Mail at kpd@katypd.com.
