Village of Mamaroneck Police Spokesperson Appears on 'Today' Show Segment About Missing Children

Update: DiRuzza said the intent of the segment was to raise awareness of the fact that children go missing every day and the actions regular citizens can take to aid in their return home.

"A lot of people think it's just a face on a poster...There is a possibility you might see that child," she said.

The Village of Mamaroneck Police Department was contacted in March by the "TODAY" show but didn't publicize the event, so as not to compromise the results of the experiment.

When asked why she thought more people didn't step forward, DiRuzza replied, "It could be a myraid of things—people don't want to get involved or end up being wrong."

But, she urged people to report anything that seems out of the ordinary, even if it turns out to be a false alarm.

"Let us make that determination," she said, adding, "Imagine if you missed the opportunity to locate a missing child."

A little over a week after a Rye teenager, Pierce Crowley, went missing, "TODAY" National Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen conducted an experiment at in Mamaroneck to test whether or not people would contact the authorities to report a "missing child," moments after she was spotted.

The entire segment—which aired yesterday morning—can be viewed by clicking here.

Despite traffic in and out of the bakery where the girl posing as a missing child was spotted, only three people reported the incident to police.

Fake missing child posters were posted all over Mamaroneck, and the actress playing the missing girl was seated in Boiano Bakery, while hidden cameras recorded people's reactions.  Several people appeared hesitant to say anything even though they recognized the girl from the poster near the register.

According to the article, Det. DiRuzza—who was watching the events unfold on hidden camera—said, "We would rather come out and investigate it and have it be nothing versus miss an opportunity to save a child."