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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
System Failure
By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
Police say help from the public is a key factor in solving missing persons cases.
But you wouldn't know it by looking at how law enforcement in New Mexico has been using the system designed to get the public involved.
Of the 1,142 active New Mexico missing persons cases entered into the National Crime Information Centers database, only about 400 of those are recorded in a similar state database known as the New Mexico Missing Persons Clearinghouse.
To make matters worse, only 18 of the cases are listed on the publicly accessible component of the state clearinghouse.
"We need the public's awareness and watchful eyes on these cases," Lt. Gov. Diane Denish told the Journal. "If someone is out there, alive and walking around, the public needs that tool where they could recognize that missing person and report them.
"From here, going forward, there should be no excuse" for those databases not to match.
The discrepancies came to light in the wake of the discovery of 11 sets of remains on Albuquerque's far Southwest Mesa earlier this year. At least seven of the women had been reported missing and their cases entered into NCIC. None, however, was entered into the state clearinghouse.
State law says all missing persons cases in New Mexico shall be entered into both databases.
Department of Public Safety Maj. Robert Schilling said most of the missing persons cases also should go on the public portion of the clearinghouse, although some that involve rapes and certain types of domestic violence have sensitive information police don't want the public to see for safety reasons.
Schilling, who is responsible for the state database, says the problem has been getting officers at the state's various law enforcement agencies trained on how to use the state database. Moreover, DPS has not been effective in distributing the forms that officers submit to get a case into the clearinghouse, he said.
Schilling said it's important to get the information to the public in most cases, and there are plans to address the problem.
"The primary benefit of getting the cases into the clearinghouse would be to get the public involved," said Schilling. "NCIC is not accessible to the public; the clearinghouse is. Getting people involved generates tips for our investigations, and that is huge for missing persons cases."
Until the new software comes online, Schilling said, he is committed to better training for officers. The clearinghouse training is an eight-hour block.
"Every year the state law enforcement academy board mandates curriculum," he said. "And it is such a jam-packed 20-week setting that some things fall off the priority list. Every time you introduce a new piece of training, you have to ax an old one. It's not easy, but it's doable."
According to state law, the agency that takes the missing persons report is responsible for reporting it to the clearinghouse, Schilling said. DPS, in turn, enters the report and provides resources to help solve the case such as a liaison to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"It's not all a one-way street," he said. "They give us information, and we provide resources. We all need to do a better job. Any time you can make improvements to a system and improve public safety, that's a big deal. This is an easy target. We need to look at it, and we need to accomplish it."
Denish formed several working groups to come up with better practices after the remains were found on the West Mesa.
She said that in addition to better reporting, the state needs to keep better statistics.
"We know that some of the children reported missing to NCIC from New Mexico have been found," she said. "We need to know what the real numbers are, and we really need to focus on those endangered missing persons cases."
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