Believe or not, in the US,  there is no National Protocol for law enforcement to follow in missing person cases. If we did, we probably wouldn’t have so many unidentified persons and the likelihood of finding missing people would be much improved. Not only that but police would be forced to follow the same guidelines throughout the country. In my opinion,  we should be treating every missing person case as a homicide until we learn otherwise. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies don’t always do the right thing and often times families are forced to deal with bureaucracy and red tape. Many fail to submit fingerprints, dental records, or DNA for the missing person. This can be prevented.

Read about and vote for National Protocol in Missing and Unidentified Person Cases submitted by Kelly Jolkowski (President and Founder of Project Jason) on Change.org. The legislation provides law enforcement with a check list of information to acquire from the family of the missing person, databases and other resources to utilize, such as DNA analysis, and the new NamUs. Coroners and medical examiners are given procedures to report the unidentified deceased, and enter all available identifiers into national databases, such as fingerprints, dental records, and DNA analysis.   The text of the legislation can be found here:  http://www.projectjason.org/downloads/ModelLegislation2008Revision.pdf

This idea is currently in 4th Place in Criminal Justice  and needs 67 more votes to make it into the second round!

As Advocate for missing mother and friend, Lilly Aramburo, who vent missing from Miami, FL 6/1/07, I support this legislation wholeheartedly and thank everyone involved, including all who support it by voting and blogging about it and sharing it across the internet. Thank you!! I know what it’s like to fight every step of the way with detectives and law enforcement to get anything done. Every body knows how critical the first 24-48 hours are in solving a missing persons case, but in Lilly’s case, nothing was done because the detective assigned to her case was on vacation! Needless to say, Lilly’s case went cold fast. And the person/people who took her life, remain free with the ability to prey on someone else’s loved one.

This is just our experience. Countless families are forced to suffer needless injustice, red tape and even racism at the hands of law enforcement . I believe it can be prevented by this legislation and many cases could be solved. We must take action now.

Please add your voice and support missing & unidentified persons and their families in the US.

Posted under legislation, missing persons

my dakinis

On this special holiday of gratitude, I am grateful for:

• my precious children (my little dakinis)
• my precious human life
• my husband & lifelong best friend, “Steaprok”
• his infinite patience
• my family
• my friends & sangha
• the kindness of my teachers - especially Lama Tsering Everest & Chagdud Khandro of Chagdud Gompa
• my daughters’ school, their teacher’s & the butterfly garden
• the little time we had with our precious friend, Lilly Aramburo (still missing)
• all the wonderful people who have supported me in my mission to find Lilly
• my cat, Machik and all animals
• the dedication of organizations like NCMA and Project Jason for missing persons
• those who advocate on behalf of womens rights & violence against women worldwide
• those who feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless
• those who work to ease suffering
• our president elect, Barack Obama

I love you all deeply and hope that this day you reflect on the positive things in your life. As well as sending prayers of compassion to those beings who are in pain and suffering greatly.

May you, your family and your friends all find peace this day and all days.

Posted under gratitude, missing person

Please read my guest post on the Subliminal Pixels blog entitled “Free Online Resources for Finding Missing Persons.” It is a first post in a series detailing how to use Social Media to raise awareness for charitable causes, specifically for raising awareness and finding missing persons.  In the coming posts I will go into much more specific detail on tips and techniques used to do this. Please follow the link to read the full post.

http://www.subliminalpixels.com/2008/09/05/50-free-online-resources-for-finding-a-missing-persons-using-social-media/

Comments and Stumbles are appreciated!!

Posted under advocacy, missing person, resources

Lilly Aramburo Missing Mother

Thank you for visiting Justice in Miami, currently it is under construction.

Our mission is to empower citizens affected by the loss of a missing person. This site will focus on advocacy efforts, resources, support and advice for using social media and the internet to raise awareness for your missing loved one.

Were you looking for Justice in Miami for missing South Florida mother, Lilly Aramburo? Click on the link to go to the blog.

Be sure to come back to visit us again in a few days! In the meantime, be sure to join us if you haven’t already:

Join the Friendfeed Missing Persons Room.

Join the Flickr Missing Persons Group.

Join the Mixx Missing Persons Community.

Join the Care2 Missing Persons Group.

Follow me on Twitter!

Posted under Justice in Miami

I started an online course last night entitled “What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence”. I found it by mistake but am thrilled to be learning more about the topic. Although, I’m not in law enforcement, it’s pretty straight forward and easy to grasp. I started it last night and finished it within the hour. For more info, visit http://www.dna.gov/ The courses are free and available to law enforcement, family and victim advocates. They also provide booklets and publications like “Identifying Victims Using DNA: A Guide for Families”

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency is committed to exploring crime control and justice issues. An area of focus is “DNA technology” which has increasingly become a vital tool in the criminal justice system. In order to increase and improve the use of this technology, the President announced a 5 year, billion dollar initiative, (President’s DNA Initiative), which promotes “Advancing Justice through DNA Technology”.

The President’s DNA Initiative targets specific goals:

• To eliminate the current testing backlog of DNA samples
• Improve DNA laboratories’ testing capacities
• Research and Development of DNA technologies
• Training and Assistance for criminal justice professionals
• Provide access to post conviction DNA testing
• The use of DNA for missing persons cases and identifying human remains
• Protect the innocent

The UNT, Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI), with support by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), has become a recognized national center providing scientific and technical support to law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and crime labs throughout the country.

UNTCHI in collaboration with law enforcement offers families with missing loved ones the opportunity to submit reference samples for DNA testing. The lab is one of only a few facilities that integrates nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for analyses. Once DNA profiles are obtained, they are directly entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System plus Mito (CODIS+mito) database.

In addition to testing family and direct reference samples, the DNA lab works in collaboration with the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology in Denton, Texas to help identify the remains of victims. DNA profiles obtained from remains are also entered into the CODIS+mito database.

Information for Relatives of Missing Persons,
Coroners, Medical Examiners & Law Enforcement Agencies

UNTCHI personnel will work with medical examiners, coroners’ offices, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Center for Missing Adults, and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States with the submission, collection, and analyses of Missing Persons samples.

A missing person report should be filed with the Law Enforcement Agency having jurisdiction where the individual was last seen or last resided. The Law Enforcement Agency will determine if the missing person meets a “High Risk” criteria. The agency may ask the family to submit personal articles belonging to the missing person (Direct Reference Sample, DRS); in addition, they may need to collect Family Reference Samples (FRS). The collection and submission of FRS can only be collected and submitted by the Law Enforcement Agency. Family reference collection kits (swabs) and the required paperwork are provided by the UNTSCHI. The collection kits and testing are provided free of charge.

After analysis, the profiles will be entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System and uploaded to the FBI’s National Missing Persons DNA Database.

Correspondence is mediated through the Law Enforcement Agency. If a match occurs, the Law Enforcement Agency will notify the family.

Law Enforcement Agencies, Medical Examiners, and Coroners may need to submit Unidentified Human Remains, (UHR). Identifying remains through DNA can be a lengthy process. There may be cases where there is no usable DNA or not enough relatives available for testing; however, our professional staff will pursue every avenue to obtain a profile.

Victim Advocates > What You Should Know About DNA Evidence

What You Should Know:

* What is DNA?
* Evidence Collection
* Contamination and Preservation
* DNA Testing and Interpretation
* Uses of DNA Evidence
* Identifying DNA Evidence
* Suggested Resources

DNA evidence is playing a larger role than ever before in criminal cases throughout the country, both to convict the guilty and to exonerate those wrongly accused or convicted. This increased role places greater importance on the ability of victim service providers to understand the potential significance of DNA evidence in their clients’ cases.

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the building block for the human body; virtually every cell contains DNA. The DNA in people’s blood is the same as the DNA in their saliva, skin tissue, hair, and bone. Importantly, DNA does not change throughout a person’s life.
The Value of DNA Evidence

DNA is a powerful investigative tool because, with the exception of identical twins, no two people have the same DNA. Therefore, DNA evidence collected from a crime scene can be linked to a suspect or can eliminate a suspect from suspicion. During a sexual assault, for example, biological evidence such as hair, skin cells, semen, or blood can be left on the victim’s body or other parts of the crime scene. Properly collected DNA can be compared with known samples to place a suspect at the scene of the crime. In addition, if no suspect exists, a DNA profile from crime scene evidence can be entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) to identify a suspect anywhere in the United States or to link serial crimes to each other.

The effective use of DNA as evidence may also require the collection and analysis of elimination samples to determine the exact source of the DNA. Elimination samples may be taken from anyone who had lawful access to the crime scene and may have left biological material. When investigating a rape case, for example, it may be necessary to obtain an elimination sample from everyone who had consensual intercourse with the victim within 72 hours of the alleged assault to account for all of the DNA found on the victim or at the crime scene. Comparing DNA profiles from the evidence with elimination samples may help clarify the results.

Using CODIS To Solve Crime

CODIS uses two indexes to generate investigative leads in crimes that contain biological evidence. The forensic index contains DNA profiles from biological evidence left at crime scenes, and the offender index contains DNA profiles of individuals convicted of violent crime. Each State in the Nation has a DNA database law that defines which convicted offenders must have their profiles entered into CODIS; some States even require that DNA profiles from all felons be entered into the database. CODIS enables Federal, State, and local forensic crime laboratories to work together—between jurisdictions and across State lines—to solve crimes.

From Understanding DNA Evidence: A Guide for Victim Service Providers, May 2001, Brochure, National Institute of Justice and Office for Victims of Crime

Posted under DNA, law enforcement, missing person

By David Van Norman - Civil Servant.

VAN NORMAN’S RULES FOR DEALING WITH CIVIL SERVANTS

Including, but not limited to, Coroners and Cops

“The Taxpayer Speech:

“Matthew was, and still may be, a taxpayer. His family are taxpayers. YOU are a taxpayer. They (or you, on their behalf) needn’t go begging, hat in hand, for information. He, they, and you, have already paid for that service! You support, by paying taxes and purchasing goods and services in the community (anywhere), the infrastructure of government, which includes law enforcement organizations. You paid for my training and experience (regardless of where you live) for me to learn what I know, and for the investigators in Whatever County to do what they do. You pay for the gas that propels their cars and the computers on which they type their reports. You, as a taxpayer, citizen, victim, loved-one of a victim, or private advocate acting on behalf of the family, have EVERY RIGHT to expect professionalism, and adherence to the rules of professional conduct. If you don’t get that, someone needs to loose their job!

“Law enforcement, like most organizations, has a political side. A deputy investigator, patrolman or detective will not be concerned with the political aspect of failing to do what needed to be done. They are insulated from above by layers of supervision. A sergeant is higher up the supervisory chain, but only a few have aspirations to rise into management. By the time a police officer is promoted to lieutenant, and certainly by captain or chief, politics is about all there is. The weakest link, believe it or not, is the department chief or Sheriff. A chief is generally an appointed position (serving at the pleasure of the county administration), while the sheriff or coroner is generally elected. Either way, scandal will end their careers (and does, on a daily basis) in a heartbeat. No matter how high-and-mighty I think I am, there is always someone higher, and mightier, than me, who understands that he (or she) is held in place by a fickle public.

“Law enforcement, by its very nature, can be intimidating to deal with. But, the fact is that law enforcement has more to fear from you than you from them. Provided you plan your contacts with them, and don’t expect the moon, you should be able to assist the family.

“I appreciate that it is difficult to communicate effectively with law enforcement or other forensic specialists. There are legitimate reasons that some information cannot be released to the public. No one knows who you are – you may be the murderer. But, if your salutation is professional, and includes a concise statement of who you are, and why you are calling – and if it sounds as though you make these calls on behalf of families 20 times a day, your credibility goes up.

“One of the reasons I use email so much, is that it gives the receiver a sense of solidity – having something in hand (or at least in a computer) that verifies the sender’s veracity. My signature block is chock full of junk, but anyone reading it knows they can check me out – I’m inviting them to! My emails are designed to overwhelm. I intentionally front-load everything. It presents in the minds eye a bulldozer that WILL NOT STOP. I want them to see me coming, take me seriously, and comply with my requests. I want them to know that if they don’t comply, I won’t be ignored. Not everybody gets that message… the first time. That’s another advantage of the email format, I just send the same message with SECOND REQUEST at the end of the subject line, with the original message attached (date-time stamped), and CC it to the receiver’s supervisor. That generally gets the job done.

“My standard advice is that during your legitimate inquiries, if anyone refuses to answer your questions, you should “walk up” the chain of command – at each level asking if it is the policy and practice of the subordinate to ignore inquiries from the grieving families of decedents.

“I recommend that you call the agency, and start your inquiry with an investigator – and hook him (or her). Then tell them that you have constructed an email with information about the missing person that you would like to send to him (or her) for ‘forwarding to the most appropriate authority within your department.’”
I’d like to thank Mr. David Van Norman for allowing me to publish his advice. It is my sincere wish that everyone who reads this post benefits from it, like I did.

Posted under advice, law enforcement, missing person