Arkansas CART Refreshers Coming in October
Members of Arkansas’ Child Abduction Response Teams are invited to attend these upcoming CART Refresher Workshops.
When a child is reported missing or abducted, a coordinated multidisciplinary response is essential. The CART Refresher Workshop provides team members with an opportunity to revisit the foundations of a Child Abduction Response Team while reviewing current procedures, best practices, and lessons learned from past incidents.
Designed for all CART members, this workshop will reinforce critical response concepts, strengthen interagency partnerships, and help ensure teams remain prepared to respond.
Training Dates and Locations
October 27, 2026
Northwest ALETA
3424 South Downum Road
Springdale, AR 72762
Register Online
October 29, 2026
Camden Facility
6373 Hussey Road
East Camden, AR 71701
Register Online
Strengthening Arkansas’ Child Recovery Response
Participants will examine how CART partners work together throughout every stage of a response, from the initial notification through investigative efforts, search operations, neighborhood canvasses, communication, resource coordination, and reunification activities.
The training also serves as an opportunity for CART partners to strengthen relationships, improve coordination, and reinforce the collaborative approach that is critical during high-stakes missing child investigations. By training together, team members gain a better understanding of one another’s roles and responsibilities, helping ensure a more effective response when called upon.
Training Objectives
- Review CART fundamentals and team structure
Understand the purpose of a multidisciplinary CART response, team composition, individual roles, and how members work together during an activation. - Apply CART response protocols and operational priorities
Recognize activation and notification procedures and apply appropriate investigative, search, canvass, communications, and resource coordination practices during a child abduction response. - Strengthen coordination and communication
Understand how CART members share information, coordinate activities, and operate within the incident command structure to support a unified and effective response. - Enhance team readiness and response capability
Identify lessons learned, best practices, and opportunities to improve individual and team preparedness, training, equipment, and overall CART effectiveness.
Instructor Bio
Derek VanLuchene is a Program Manager for the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) with a focus on AATTAP’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program and continuing to expand the number of US DOJ Certified CART programs, increase the number of trained CART programs in Indian Country and assist previously trained teams in maintaining operational capacity and readiness. Derek works closely with a talented team of CART trainers and the AATTAP CART Certification team to assess the status of CART programs nationwide.
Derek brings a unique perspective to the investigation and response to child abductions. In 1987, when Derek was 17 years old, his 8-year-old brother Ryan was abducted and murdered by a repeat sex offender. Ryan was taken from the family’s backyard in a rural Montana community. Since that time, Derek has devoted himself to issues of sex offender management and child abduction response.
Derek spent 22 years as a Montana Law Enforcement Officer working for both the Conrad Police Department and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
Derek has worked as an associate with FVTC and its National Criminal Justice Training Center, as well as with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, for over 15 years and has taught extensively in the CART program and other investigative courses.
All Arkansas CART members are encouraged to attend this valuable refresher training and help strengthen the statewide partnership dedicated to protecting children and supporting successful recovery efforts.
For more information, contact:
Joe Carter at [email protected]
Kim Hendricks Jones at [email protected] or 501-570-8041
