Video Store Chain Offers Free ‘Kidprint’ to Aid If Child Is Ever Lost : Crime: The three-minute videotape can provide investigators with a good picture of the child’s mannerisms and speech patterns, which could be a real aid in the search, officials say.

Worried that her son’s father might some day try to take their 7-year-old boy from her, Alice Sutton of San Diego has had her son fingerprinted, photographed and most recently videotaped.

As part of a nationwide project by Blockbuster Video stores, Sutton had a videotape of her son, Richard Kuster, made Monday.

“I want to make sure I have everything for the cops if something should occur,” said Sutton, who was at the Blockbuster store in the 2000 block of El Cajon Boulevard. “We haven’t seen him for over five years, and he just showed up on my doorstep on Sunday.”

The program, called Kidprint, is going on at Blockbuster’s 1,300 stores nationally, including 45 locations in San Diego County.

The program will run every Sunday through Wednesday, from 2 to 6 p.m., through the end of August, said Blockbuster spokeswoman Cydne Norris.

Children 12 and under are videotaped free, and parents can either bring their own videocassette tape or buy a special Kidprint tape for $2.25.

All proceeds from the tape sales go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Arlington, Va.

Officials who deal with missing children said having a videotape can be a valuable tool in an investigation. They say a videotape can help investigators by giving them a better look at a child, can be distributed to the public or can be used on TV news shows.

“So if you see a kid somewhere, it just kind of turns on a light,” said Detective Jim Sexton, who works in the Juvenile Services Division of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. “If you see a kid acting a certain way (in a video), it’s better than just seeing a still photograph.”

Blockbuster officials said the company started the program, which got under way Sunday, because the number of missing children continues to grow.

The California Department of Justice has almost 1,300 active missing-children files on record statewide, and some of these cases date back to the early 1970s, said Steven Wong, an identifications specialist for the department.

Most are runaways, followed by those taken by family members. The number of children abducted by strangers is relatively small, according to state statistics.

Of the 1,300 cases handled by the state, 926 are considered runaways; 159 are believed to have been taken by a parent or family member; three are what are called nonfamily abductions, such as being taken by a baby sitter, and 15 are believed to have been abducted by strangers, Wong said.

Standing in front of a height chart and measuring 3 feet, 11 inches tall, Richard Kuster stood stick-straight and avoided looking directly at the video camera while he made “his movie.”

Richard, who was wearing gray pants and a gray T-shirt, sheepishly answered all the questions a Blockbuster clerk asked him.

“What grade are you in?” asked Doris Dobbel, a clerk.

“Third.”

“What’s your favorite TV show?”

“ ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.’ ”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Macaroni and cheese,” he answered with a grin.

Blockbuster employees ask the children an array of questions so the tape contains some personal information, as well as highlighting a child’s mannerisms and speech patterns during the three-minute segments.

During the taping, full-length shots of a child, as well as close-ups of his or her face are taken, said Steven Pizziol, the Blockbuster manager who shot the video of Richard Kuster.

But experts warn that a one-time video of a child is not enough.

“It should be updated every six months or every year,” David Shapiro, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said. “So, if God forbid you need it, it’s there.”