Help Find the Missing Act

October 27, 2009

Have you heard about H.R. 3695, the "Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law)," introduced by Representatives Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ted Poe(R-TX)?

This important legislation would aid in filling the gaps in the nation's missing persons system and would help bring closure to the loved ones of the missing. It is no longer a rare occasion in which one may become a missing statistic. Every year tens of thousands of Americans go missing, never to be seen by their loved ones again. Additionally, there are also an estimated 40,000 sets of unidentified human remains that are being held or disposed of across the country. Sadly, because of gaps in the nation's missing persons systems, missing persons and unidentified remains are rarely matched. The Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law) is an effort to fix these gaps. We want to help families to have the resources so that we can lessen the burden on the system as well as bringing loved ones home for a proper burial.

PLEASE HELP. We want to have the gaps closed that will enable families of missing to have one source to be able to search for their missing loved ones. Presently, there are no federal mandates in place to have one system in place. This complicates searches when the Government has a database and the FBI has a separate database. This leaves many cracks that those missing, or unidentified, can fall through.

Presently, there are many missing that may be left unattended in a morgue, unidentified. Fact is, 200 unidentified bodies are in Florida, right now from the 60's and 70's.

In Los Angeles, there are 4815 unclaimed. We want to help families to have the resources so that we can lessen the burden on the system as well as bringing loved ones home for a proper burial.

H.R. 3695 is a bill in which we are striving towards federal legislation, not state-to-state.

Please review the below and help by supporting H.R. 3695

Filling in the Gaps of the Nation's Missing Persons Systems

Endorsed By: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Fraternal Order of Police, National Associations of Police Organizations (NAPO), Connecticut Department of Public Safety, National Forensic Science Technology Center, National Center for Forensic Science, Destiny Search Services, Doe Missing Persons Network, Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, Inc., Peace4TheMissing, Please Help Find The Missing Group, Project EDAN, LostNMissing Inc., Center for Hope.

Sponsored by Representatives Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ted Poe (R-TX)

Current Cosponsors: Walt Minnick (ID-I), Ed Whitfield (R-KY)

We are appreciative of the endorsement for H.R. 3695 from the National Associations of Police Organizations. (NAPO). Please click here to read their endorsement letter

Click here to continue reading about this proposed bill >

This legislation is named after Billy Smolinski of Waterbury, Connecticut who went missing on August 24, 2004 at the age of 31. Billy's family knows all-too-well the systemic challenges in trying to find the missing. They quickly learned that while federal law mandates law enforcement report missing children, there are no such requirements for adults – or unidentified bodies. Compounding this problem is the fact that local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and coroners, often don't have the resources or training to voluntarily report these cases. Finally, even when missing adults and remains are reported, the wide-range of unconnected federal, state, local, and non-profit databases to help match the missing with unidentified bodies, makes finding a match an often insurmountable challenge.

Billy's Law builds upon recent efforts to address these issues by:

• Authorizing, and therefore helping to ensure funding for, the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), which was created in July 2007 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide a missing persons/unidentified database that the public could access and contribute;

• Connecting NamUs with the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in order to create more comprehensive missing persons and unidentified remains databases and streamlining the reporting process for local law enforcement;

• Creating an incentive grants program to help states, local law enforcement and medical examiners/coroners report missing persons and unidentified remains to NCIC, NamUs, and the National DNA Index System (NDIS);

• Calling on the DOJ to issue guidelines and best practices on handling missing persons and unidentified remains cases in order to empower law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners to help find the missing.

Should you have any questions or needs, please contact Representative Chris Murphy (D-CT) or Ted Poe (R-TX).

Please click here to see the PDF of this very important bill. Afterwards, click here to sign and support this bill. 

David Lohr fully supports and endorses this proposed bill and hopes that you will consider doing the same. 

Comments

[Sara Huizenga]

As the Co-Founder of Peace4 the Missing, a network for many families of missing loved ones, I want to sincerely thank you for spreading additional awareness of NamUs.Gov, which so positively aides so many heavily anguished hearts who have been left with no answers.

Sara Huizenga
Co-Founder of Peace4 the Missing
http://peace4missing.ning.com

[Sara Huizenga]

Thank you for helping spread the word about NamUs - legislative efforts are currently underway to further strengthen and utilize the NamUs system through Billy's Law, The Help Find the Missing Act ...

We finally have the opportunity to somewhat lessen the horror so many families with missing loved ones are forced to endure ... let's not let it pass us by -

Help Pass Billy's Law today!! http://peace4missing.ning.com/forum/topics/on-the-road-to-passing-billys. -

Billy's Law online petition - http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-congress-to-pass-billys-law-to-help-identify-the-missing

--
Sara Huizenga - Grand Haven, MI 49417

Victim's Advocate Team Michigan NamUs Academy - http://www.namus.gov
Founder: Peace4 the Missing - http://peace4missing.ning.com

Creative Director: Socialsprouts - http://socialsprouts.com
http://www.facebook.com/socialsprouts

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sara.elizabeth.huizenga
Twitter: http://twitter.com/peace4missing

[Angela Anderson]

I support this bill 100 percent. On July 26, 2011, was the last time I saw my daughter Crystal Anderson. It pains my heart everyday that I have no ideal where she could be or if she is even alive. There is some support for missing adults but not much and I would like to see more.

thank you