Missing Persons - What Do I Do? Checklists and Information

By Deputy Coroner Investigator David Van Norman, Unidentified Persons Coordinator

03/10/08

<modsnip: broken link>

<snipped>

CRITICAL FIRST STEP:

The first step is the most critical: The missing loved one MUST be reported missing to a law enforcement agency, and that agency MUST enter the record into NCIC (the National Crime Information Center). This must happen IMMEDIATELY. Federal law prohibits the establishment of a waiting period to report someone missing. I don&#8217;t care if the person was last seen walking out the door ten minutes ago- they are gone now!



There is a &#8220;logic convention&#8221; in law enforcement that the person should be reported missing to the agency with jurisdiction over the place of residence. The reasoning seems to be that a person is likely to return to familiar locations, such as home. However, serious consideration should be given to the location that the person was last seen &#8211; particularly if the story is that the person was seen being bundled into the back seat of a blacked-out Mafia car! In California Penal Code 14205 is specific: &#8220;All local police and sheriffs' departments shall accept any report of a missing person, including runaways, without delay and shall give priority to the handling of these reports over the handling of reports relating to crimes involving property&#8230; the reports shall be submitted within four hours after acceptance to NCIC via CLETS.&#8221; Technically that means that it doesn&#8217;t matter whether the person was never in California, and was last seen on the Space Shuttle! If the phone rings at a police station in California, and a person is missing, the report should be taken. It doesn&#8217;t matter if little Jenny has just run away for the 10th time &#8211; for all we know, this time she ran straight into the arms of Jack the Ripper! The family will encounter some typical law enforcement attitudes: &#8220;There is no law against being missing!&#8221; True, but there isn&#8217;t any law against taking the report &#8211; and in fact, at least in California, there is a law against NOT taking the report! &#8220;There is no evidence that anything bad has happened.&#8221; True, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence! Since Jenny is missing we have no reason to believe she is safe, either. Unless the investigator believes that she is in the Penthouse Suite at the local Holiday Inn, eating bon-bons and sipping ice tea, then she is probably living on the streets with every ****-**** ******* in society trolling like sharks for little girls just like her! Take the report and get the information broadcasting in NCIC!



Nothing happens without the NCIC record. The NCIC computer chugs away all night long looking for matches between unidentified and missing person records. If a possible match is found between two records, a teletype is sent to both agencies. We receive approximately 1,500 of these match-ups per year for San Bernardino&#8217;s 250 long term unidentified person cases. It is then up to the agencies to compare the identifier records, IF they were collected.



If one or the other record is not in NCIC, there IS NO WAY TO MATCH THEM TOGETHER!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
****Fellow Sleuthers****

NAMUS/IdentifyUS is looking for platforms to educate families, law enforcement and medical examiners on the centralized databases established for missing persons and UID's. Please provide the following link for your contacts regardless of whether or not the case is cold:

https://www.findthemissing.org/

"This site provides an opportunity for families, law enforcement agencies and investigators to search nationwide for missing persons using a variety of powerful search features. Anyone may search the database, but by registering in the system both law enforcement professionals and the general public will also be able to:
Add new missing persons cases
Add physical and circumstantial details, photographs, dental contacts and other critical pieces of information to a case
Create and print missing persons posters
Track multiple cases as information is added to the system
With your help, we can increase the number of missing persons cases solved each year providing closure for families and law enforcement officials nationwide."

In order to maintain the integrity of the data entered, NAMUS wants to limit the people entering the information to those who have the most accurate resources-please encourage your contacts to make sure their cases are entered.
 
For the Siblings of the Missing

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes in our compassionate desire to do whatever we can do to assist and help get the word out about missing children and adults.

We forget about the siblings and that their entire world has been changed in the moment their loved one has gone missing.

Here is a Website that has made for and by the siblings of Missing children.

<broken link>

Bless you, we care.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Adding:

workbook: www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/217714.pdf
 
Last edited by a moderator:
National Runaway Safeline | National Runaway Safeline

Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away in a year. Our mission at the National Runaway Switchboard is to help keep America&#8217;s runaway and at-risk youth safe and off the streets. Our services are provided in part through funding from Family and Youth Services Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

<modsnip: broken link>
A resource booklet for parents

Runaways and Drug Abuse: 15 Ways to Reach Out and Make a Difference

How to Discipline a Runaway Child & Consequences

Alone without a Home: A State-by-State Review of Laws Affecting Unaccompanied Youth

The National Network for Youth
 
Last edited by a moderator:
New York City Missing Persons Day Logo.jpg

Are you the family member or friend of a long-term missing person in the New York City area?

You are invited to New York City Missing Persons Day on Saturday, November 8, 2014.

The first-ever New York City Missing Persons Day connects all New Yorkers with the resources to help identify and find their long-term missing loved ones. Families and friends of long-term missing persons (missing for 60 or more days) will have direct access to interviews with professionals and the opportunity to provide information to aid in identification. Emotional and spiritual support services will also be available on site to all attendees.

All are welcome. Families and friends who wish to have an interview are strongly advised to schedule in advance by calling (212) 323-1201. Callers will be advised on what information to bring. Providing information is voluntary. Information will be used for identification purposes only.

When: Saturday, November 8, 2014
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Where: NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) – Hirsch Building
421 East 26th Street (at 1st Avenue)
New York, NY 10016

Why: More than 13,000 people were reported missing in New York City last year, with some, including at least 200 children, missing long term. Nationwide, there are more than 87,000 active missing persons cases, while there are tens of thousands of unidentified persons for whom little to no information is entered into national databases. New York City has been conducting a comprehensive review of all the unidentified persons in its custody using new advances in technology, but new technology can only go so far. Identifications cannot be made unless adequate information about missing persons is available for comparison.

Who: Hosted by OCME, in partnership with the NYPD Missing Persons Unit, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, American Red Cross, and Disaster Chaplaincy Services, with support from the NYC Office of Emergency Management, NYC Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Center for HOPE, and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), and assistance from the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit and the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs.

For more information, visit nyc.gov/ocme
 
How do police decide to issue an AMBER Alert?

The guidelines for issuing AMBER Alerts


Author: Ken Haddad, Social Media Producer, @KenHaddad, KHaddad@wdiv.com

DETROIT -
America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, otherwise known as an AMBER Alert, has been an effective tool for police to find missing children since 1996.

An AMBER Alert was issued in Michigan this past weekend, which got a lot of people thinking: how come we don't get more AMBER Alerts? There has to be more missing children, right? Yes, there are. But not every situation falls under AMBER Alert criteria. Below are some of the guidelines, or recommendations from the government for issuing AMBER Alerts...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/how-do-police-decide-to-issue-an-amber-alert/32083706
 
If you find yourself in a missing person case or investigation, here are some suggestions.

Immediately take pictures, video and notes of anything pertinent or evidence or phone calls/voicemails (don't delete) or dates or anything. Screen shot news articles (see below). If an investigation is started, law enforcement may collect and haul away evidence, and you might be left with nothing to go on as they don't share much if any information. You don't want to be without any clues, feeling like you can do nothing.

Pray- God will comfort those who ask him and help you endure. 1 Corinthians 1:3,4

Get rest- you may feel weary from heartache.

Come together and work together as a family or group. Possibly have a meeting and voice what you remember or ideas, don't berate each other. Understand that people might get snappy while in pain and let it go. Call and support each other.

Don't be afraid to search. This is your loved one! Well meaning officers may tell you it is a waste of time. Wrong! If you find nothing so be it, you will know that you did something, you cared to take action. Or they may not want interference or they dont want to look bad if the family finds clues. Let them do their job, BUT it's your family member, so you can search.
It may not be possible to find anything, but you definitely won't if you never start. Here's how success happens. First you need the desire to do something, then you need to start. So take action, however small, GET IT ROLLING. You also need determination to continue, grind it out.
No LE officer is going to have the same drive as you to find your loved one. Also, you probably know better what their car or possessions look like.

Be shrewd if LE are keeping you in the dark. You could have family members check in and converse with officers or investigators, and ask questions. Ask and hopefully you will receive. If you spread some questions around to different officers, the more likely the family will get info. Possible method suggestion here: get a family member who the investigators know could not possibly have any involvement in case to ask for information.

Deception is often used by law enforcement officers, it doesn't make sense but it's true. Some of them hate to do it, and of course are bad liars. Accept it, don't be naive. If they suspect something, they may try to get you to say something they think they know about the case. If you are just a helpful problem-solving-out-loud-thinker, you might have a good hunch, but there is no need to speculate to them, so don't say too too much.
LE are also humans, they fumble and make mistakes. This is possibly a way you can help with your efforts, as they may miss something.

Screen shot news articles. Sometimes media will report a story with information that is sensitive to the case given to them by LE in haste or not thinking, then LE will ask them to retract or revise the story.
Be careful here, because it is possible for a LE officer to not remember or be aware the sensitive information was publicized then retracted, but you saw it and now they get suspicious because you know about a detail. Having a copy of that reported detail would be good. It can be a weird dynamic with LE and the media, besides the media rarely gets everything correct in a story.
 
Last edited:
Just want to share from the Netherlands that in 2019,a meal delivery service teamed up with LE & Amber Alert to gain more attention for missing persons by placing a poster on their deliverers bag.
Missing person posters placed on meal deliverers' bags


Today I came across this news article,wich in my point of view sounds very interesting (had to share)...

Ride to Find
“Deliveroo's food delivery workers will be helping in the search for missing kids from now on. Through a national campaign called 'Ride to Find', meal deliverers will receive Amber Alerts and Missing Child Alerts on their rider app, so that they can help keep an eye out for missing children. The campaign is supported by Amber Alert and the police].

"The more people look for a missing child, the greater the chance that the child will be found again quickly," Frank Hoen of Amber Alert said. "Deliveroo's deliverers are on the road all day. They are not only clearly visible on the street, but also see a lot themselves. That is a great asset. Thanks to this new collaboration with Deliveroo, in which delivery drivers receive an active alert via their rider app, we hope in the future to bring missing children home even faster."


This is the first time worldwide that Deliveroo deliverers will receive these alerts on their apps, Amber Alert said. During September, Deliveroo workers will also ride around with missing person posters on their delivery bags, to draw attention to cold cases.’

Food delivery workers to help find missing children during Amber Alerts
 
In Canada a website for Aboriginal and Indigenous and Metis persons is:

 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
199
Guests online
1,688
Total visitors
1,887

Forum statistics

Threads
589,953
Messages
17,928,195
Members
228,015
Latest member
Amberraff
Back
Top