After 34 years teaching elementary and middle schoolers, Ralph Caporale is devoting his retirement years to keeping children safe.

The Schenectady Federation of Teachers retiree is a national trainer for A Child is Missing, a Florida-based, not-for-profit organization that helps police with early search-and-recovery efforts when a child, elderly person or college student is reported missing.

"We have a rapid response neighborhood notification system," said Caporale. "When a call comes in from a police station, we use a satellite imaging program to determine the initial search area."

The group taps a databank of more than 50 million phone numbers to alert residents. "A taped message asks them to check their front and back yards and to contact local authorities with any information," said Caporale. "We put more eyes and ears into the neighborhood."

Caporale crisscrosses the country recruiting law enforcement bureaus to use the free service.

"We can become another tool to help find the missing," he said. "Instead of 12 sets of eyes out searching, we can put out thousands of sets."

A September session in Waterford, Saratoga County, was the first training in New York for A Child is Missing. Caporale hopes to expand the New York presence.

The group has assisted in 185 safe recoveries since it began in 1996, said Caporale.

For information about A Child is Missing, or to make a donation, visit www.achildismissing.org.