Campaign for the Missing – Let’s DoThis

 

A number of states have passed a legislation called Campaign for the Missing. I hope to do so for Alabama. I would like to propose it on behalf of a missing Montgomery, Alabama girl who was 19 years old when she vanished in 2003. And I so hope to get the help of Beth Twitty to get this passed. While it won’t help her dear Natalee, Beth’s voice and her wonderful reputation will help the cases of all future missing persons in Alabama.

 

The Campaign for the Missing is coordinated by Project Jason, a nonprofit organization that helps families of missing persons. Project Jason was founded when Kelly and Jim Jolkowski’s son, Jason, disappeared in 2001. They decided that no family should have to go through having a loved one go missing without knowing what to do and with nowhere to turn for information. I am a volunteer for Project Jason in several capacities

 

Back to the legislation.

 

Missing persons cases in the U.S., particularly when it comes to missing adults, are handled by law enforcement in vastly different ways, depths, considerations, care, concern, worry. The fact is, many are handled very poorly. There is no 48-hour waiting period by law, did you know that? In fact, police departments are supposed to take a police report when you walk in the door, no matter what. Few realize this.

 

But I digress….

 

Here is the description of The Campaign for the Missing:

 

“Campaign for the Missing is a grassroots effort to pass legislation in each state that will serve to improve the law enforcement community’s ability to locate and ensure a safe return of missing persons. It will address the national problems of missing persons and the identification of human remains and provide the framework for improving law enforcement’s response. It will also improve the collection of critical information about missing persons, prioritize high-risk missing persons cases, and ensure prompt dissemination of critical information to other law enforcement agencies and the public that can improve the likelihood of a safe return.

 

“The Department of Justice, working with Federal, State, and local law enforcement; coroners and medical examiners; victim advocates; forensic scientists; key policymakers; and family members who have lived through this tragic experience, developed the model to be presented in each state’s legislature.”

 

In a nutshell, DNA must be collected for both missing persons and unidentified bodies (can you imagine if your loved one was missing and you knew that many unidentified bodies had been interred WITHOUT any DNA collected?). The DNA testing is actually done for free, so this does not cost the state even one red cent.

 

Police are also to pay closer attention if family and friends insist the disappearance is uncharacteristic. “No, this person is NOT down in Mexico living it up and having margaritas! Listen, dammit!”

 

The only states right now that have passed with the entire bill intact is NJ and OR. NJ was the most recent – late last year.

 

Other states that have passed due to the work of Campaign volunteers is CT, FL, and IN. All three states need to add the DNA and unidentified remains section of the legislation

 

States which passed similar legislation before the Campaign was in full swing: TX, CA, WA, DC, and CO. These states still need work, such as adding the 2 Project Jason Amendments.

 

It is best to get all of it passed at once to make less work for everyone. Let’s put Alabama on the map in a very positive, progressive way.

 

In our favor is that Alabama recently passed the Silver Alert. (Good job, Dad!) Similar to Amber Alerts, the Silver Alert is designed to create a wide spread lookout for at-risk seniors who wander from their surroundings. So, the passing of this legislation shows that Alabama officials ARE paying attention to missing persons right now. Now is the time to move on The Campaign for the Missing in Alabama.

 

The beauty of the Campaign for the Missing is that the work is all done for us. The letters are composed already in a fashion that we know works – all the documentation and efforts are pre-prepared. Getting it passed in a state requires absolutely no creation of documents, literature or other communications. It merely requires contacting the right, open-minded state representative (and perhaps a few law enforcement officials to endorse it).

 

We will need to get sponsorship from persons in both the house and the senate.

 

Thorough information about The Campaign for the Missing is found at http://www.projectjason.org/legislation.html

 

If anyone knows Beth Twitty, please direct her to this page in hopes she may want to help make this happen in our state. I plan to start this process in June, 2009. I can be reached at garden4missing@aol.com.

 

And anyone else reading this is interested in working for their states, go to http://www.projectjason.org/legislation.html