Mouthpiece for the Missing
March 24, 2021 Leave a comment
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – A 7-year-old girl was reported missing out of Orem on Monday, which has some people asking the question, why wasn’t an AMBER Alert issued?
What does it take for an AMBER Alert to be issued in the first place?
March 19, 2021 Leave a comment
Over the years, the way we’ve communicated missing person cases has evolved from flyers on telephone poles and pictures on the sides of milk cartons to online forums and social media. Technology continues to drive how we relay information to the masses at an unprecedented rate. While incredible strides have been made in the way missing person cases are delivered, there’s still an opportunity to reach a broader audience with even more relevant content.
As of today, social media is the primary way we share cases with the public – whether within a Facebook news feed or a retweet to the masses. Online crime community forums continue to have a solid base of core users who openly discuss active cases and pick up on minute clues – even tidbits of information initially overlooked by law enforcement. I’m sure many of us have experienced being startled by an Amber Alert text message sent to our cell phones at an unexpected time. Lastly, traditional cable news continues to break cases and provide ongoing updates.
Although these methods are superior to that of the past, they’re not without drawbacks. For one, the volume of information is overwhelming and often not pertinent to every single audience member. You could peruse the internet all day and not run out of current missing person cases to investigate. While all cases are of importance, it makes sense to get the stories in the hands of people who can have the biggest impact.
In a future state, it would make more sense to target specific audiences in some instances. Imagine receiving posts and alerts relevant to your location and history. You would always want to see cases related to where you’re currently located – whether that’s your current city or in an entirely different area you’re visiting. Perhaps you’ve moved over the years but still stay in contact with people from your prior whereabouts. You’ve accumulated a circle of acquaintances extending far beyond your current location but in which you can influence with vital information. Cases could take priority in your news feed not only by geographic history but also by age, vulnerability, and criticality.
The benefits of this approach would be a lower volume of higher quality articles, much more relevant to your particular situation. By sharing this content with people from your past and present who have a similar relation to the areas in focus, more eyeballs in the immediate area could be put on the case at hand. Ultimately, this can translate to valuable tips and faster resolution time.
In summary, the ways we disseminate information regarding missing person cases has drastically changed over time. Technology has been extremely beneficial but we’re beyond the point of information overload. Continued refinements in our approach using existing technology will lead to improved results and additional saved lives.
June 3, 2020 Leave a comment
Last year, 36.7% of the nearly half-million children reported missing in this country were black — despite African Americans accounting for just 14% of children in the U.S.
And 2019 was not an enigma, with the FBI documenting an all-too-consistent disparity over the years.
May 25, 2020 Leave a comment
Monday marks the 37th annual commemoration of National Missing Children’s Day.
According to the United States Justice Department, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 National Missing Children’s day in 1983 in memory of 6-year-old Etan Patz who was murdered while walking to his school bus in Manhattan on May 25, 1979.
July 18, 2017 Leave a comment
JACKSONVILLE — Gina DeJesus was one of three girls abducted and held victim for years by notorious Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro. He allowed his victims to watch television and, one night during her ordeal, DeJesus saw her mother, Nancy Ruiz, throw out the first pitch at a minor league baseball game. Nancy was on the mound to raise awareness for missing children, like her daughter, who had been missing since April 2, 2004.
Gina DeJesus wondered who the “big guy” was in the videos with her mother, the man catching the pitch at home plate and running the ball back out to Nancy and giving her a hug.
May 25, 2017 Leave a comment
In 1983, Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25th as National Missing Children’s Day. All month long, WUSA9 has shared faces of missing children from our area in in hopes of helping to bring them home. Here are 5 ways keep your children safe & join WUSA9 in raising awareness of missing children in our area
1. Talk honestly to your kids about protecting themselves
Former President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Ernie Allen, encourages parents to talk candidly with their children about safety. Role playing exercises could help kids protect themselves if they’re confronted with immediate threats or predators.
May 18, 2017 Leave a comment
America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, or AMBER Alert, was created in 1996 as a response for local police to find abducted children, according to U.S. Department of Justice.
The alert system, later named Amber, was created after Amber Hagerman, 9, was kidnapped while riding her bike in Arlington, Texas and later murdered.
April 27, 2017 Leave a comment
When 16-year-old Kimberly Arteaga went missing three years ago, she wasn’t considered to be “at risk.”
How that determination was made was called into question this week when investigators revealed that human remains found in a park in southern Chula Vista in January were those of the Lemon Grove girl. She had been killed.
April 23, 2017 Leave a comment
(CNN) — Here is a look at missing children in the United States. There are several different types of missing children: runaways, family abductions, lost or “thrown away,” and non-family abductions. Recent advances in technology, communications through public alerts and greater cooperation from law enforcement have helped solve many cases quickly.
Statistics:
According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person File, there are 88,040 active missing person records, of which juveniles under the age of 18 account for 33,706 (38.3%) of the records. (as of December 31, 2016)
April 11, 2017 Leave a comment
When 16-year-old Madison Krumrine went missing on March 23, the news spread quickly.
There were suspicions, expressed on and circulated by social media, mostly Facebook, that foul play was afoot. She was last seen at 8:30 p.m. that Thursday evening and did not show up for classes the next morning at South Western Senior High School. She had left her cellphone behind, leading to speculation that, perhaps, something terrible had happened to her.
I Have Vanished 