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More than a dozen families who have had a child go missing took part in the 17th annual Florida Missing Childrens’s Day today in the State Capitol. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the day of remembrance took place as the state Department of Law Enforcement struggles to keep up with a shrinking staff and increasing workload.

One by one, family members placed a yellow rose next to the picture of their missing loved one.

The Governor called their pain unfathomable.

“The evil of these heartless crimes is too much to comprehend. You just can’t imagine anybody doing this” said Rick Scott, looking directly at the famalies in the front row.

During a moment of silence…A tracking bloodhound chimed in. Two dogs were honored for their efforts in returning children home.

And two young girls, one from Manatee county, the other from near Jacksonville were honored for thwarting their abductors.

Meelena is just sevenand from Clay County. She was grabbed by her hiar on her way home from school.

Q:”You got away!”

“I convinced him.”

Q”How scared were you?”

“I was pretty scared. I cried once or twice.”

The family of Trenton Duckett, missing since 2006 said this year was especially hard for them. Joshua Duckett is Trenton’s father.

“Not having the answers, not getting any kind of closure, you know, you got boocoo’s of emotions going through you. It helps to be around the other families” says Duckett.

Recent budget cuts have put a squeeze on the Department of Law Enforcement. It says it needs tens of millions of dollars to do the job it is supposed to do.

The Governor says he will listen to the needs of his FDLE Commissioner.

“and we’ll be working with him to make sure they have the resources they need” Scott told reporters afterward.

Detectives, a bus driver, a Jacksonville Attorney, an alert citizen, and two fifth graders were also honored during the remembrance.

The Department of Law Enforcement is losing crime lab analysts to local governments because the state pay is so low. FDLE is asking for enough to provide pay raises of ten thousand dollars to the law workers and to hire as many as 30 new technicians.