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By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune October 14. 2014 12:01AM Tactical operations center dedicated to abducted child Capt. Monty Holloway talks to media in the Tactical Operations Center Monday at the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. Mail Tribune / Julia Moore A child's disappearance is a parent's worst nightmare, one with which Desiree Young of Medford has been living since June 4, 2010. On that day, her 7-year-old son, Kyron, was dropped off by his stepmother at school in Portland and never came home. His disappearance sparked a massive local, state and federal search effort that to date has turned up no sign of his whereabouts. Throughout the ordeal, she said, she found hope in the efforts of the hundreds of searchers who showed up to help. "I can't tell you how heartwarming it was to walk out and see all those search-and-rescue volunteers looking for Kyron," she said. Monday afternoon, Young, accompanied by her husband, Medford police Detective Tony Young, choked back tears as Sheriff Mike Winters unveiled a plaque dedicating the agency's Tactical Operations and AMBER Alert Center to Kyron. The dedication comes in the wake of the sheriff's department's decision to take the lead role in the Southern Oregon Child Abduction Response Team, formerly a partnership between the Jackson County and the Klamath County sheriff's offices. Capt. Monty Holloway said Jackson County stepped in to lead the program when budget cuts put Klamath County's participation in jeopardy. But the tactical operations center, opened last year, serves many more functions, said projects manager Jennifer Hall.  "This is a place for partners," Hall said, pointing to the December 2013 snowstorm that buffeted the Rogue Valley as an example of one of its recent uses. "Last December, we had ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation), county roads, law enforcement, fire, volunteers working in here." The room, a sort of nerve center for emergency services agencies, houses dozens of computers displaying real-time video, mapping and fleet management software across numerous monitors. Some of the information is publicly aired, but Hall said the agency also receives a number of classified, law-enforcement-only feeds through the state of Oregon. A nearby room can be opened up as an emergency call center — both as a backup 911 system and as an Amber Alert tipline — and another room acts as a dispatch center for Amateur Radio Emergency Services, whose members can provide backup public safety communications in emergencies. Hall said the center is also set up to oversee general search-and-rescue and tactical operations, and has helped coordinate a response to nearby wildfires. It's clear, however, that the safety of local youth isn't far from anyone's mind. A small office near the back wall of the center houses the agency's NEXAR school security system, recently installed in Shady Cove's elementary and middle schools. Once it's activated by one of the panic buttons inside the schools, the system allows law enforcement officers to view dozens of cameras, control doors and change the color of overhead lights to signal students and teachers when it's safe to move in the event of an active shooter or similar incident. "We recognize our number-one role in law enforcement is protecting our vulnerable," Holloway said. "Our children." Reach reporter Thomas Moriarty at 541-776-4471, or by email at [email protected] . Follow him at @ThomasDMoriarty . http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20141014/NEWS/141019841 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->