PHOENIX — The police department has landed a free computer system designed to help find missing kids, but with the potential to help the department tap technology in many cases.

The department got a computer, monitor, scanner, color printer and even a desk to put it on from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. The computer is outfitted with typical office software, such as Windows XP, and a law-enforcement program called Locator.

The Locator program enables officers to create posters about missing children or adults, crime suspects, or stolen property, police Chief Bob Kershaw said. It also can send the details to police nationwide and provides the six-officer Phoenix department with updates on cases elsewhere.

Kershaw says that the clear, color photos the Locator system transmits via a high-speed cable modem will be more useful than grainy faxes the department has relied on.

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In addition to the Locator bulletins, the new computer provides the department with e-mail capabilities — something the department has had only intermittently, Kershaw said. He previously depended on his own e-mail account to communicate with other agencies and the public.

He also had resorted to creating missing person posters at home after a foster child he and his wife were caring for ran away last year. He sent out posters to various agencies and after six months, the girl was found in Northern California.

Even with his knowledge of how police work, Kershaw was frustrated with how long it took to disseminate information about the runaway.

"This enables us to do something right now," Kershaw said of the new computer system.

The department hasn’t had a need to send out any bulletins since it got the new computer May 1, but Kershaw is ready.

"The minute we get a report of a missing child or runaway, it’s going to be out there," he said.

Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4459, or e-mail aburke@mailtribune.com