In following missing cases for the last year, several aspects of searching for a missing child have become obvious. The most prominent aspect of a missing case is knowing who not to call! Then there are those who clearly need to be contacted. National organizations have been around for years and many are quite experienced in getting the word out nationwide. Law Enforcement and FBI are trained to deal with cases and have done quite a job in finally getting their “man”. TES is known for searching for bodies if the family requests them to do so. However, TES searches for bodies and to some families, they don’t want to admit the possibility the child might be deceased and are hesitant to call them.
In some cases, families involve attorneys to represent them. We always assume an attorney is for the guilty, however some have been designated as PR or Public Relations. In the past year families of missing children had attorneys lining up to represent them for free. I don’t understand how everyone could be pro-bono even though they are considered to be “high-profile” or will be soon IMO.
National and local news agencies are reputable reporters. In Florida, the media are the front line recipients of legal documents involved in the criminal cases. They publish the documents once they are made available through the court. Florida’s Sunshine Law allows documents to become public, however, only if court documents have been filed or the state begins its case against a suspect.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm?CFID=90457931&CFTOKEN=25787111
Each missing children’s case is uniquely different. In each missing case not all agencies and organizations are involved. Reasons vary as to why some agencies are involved, why some get continued national coverage, while others receive immediate national coverage but then dwindle to local coverage or none at all. When too many characters are involved, sometimes there is more bantering back and forth and fingerpointing than actually putting that energy into to looking for their missing loved one.
Money has become a major issue. Legitmate funds are set up to help the families in time of need because working is understandably not in the forefront. The issue becomes for how long? How long do families need donations to take care of living expenses? It is also a time for chartiable organizations to beef up their fundraising efforts for the most prominent cases. When too many organizations get involved and needing donations, the contributions are spread thin. With today’s economic times with all these organizations are looking for donations, there are many out-stretched hands. How do we know they all justified?
Bounty Hunters and Private Detectives have been involved in recent cases; some soliciting funds. I was always under the impression that a P.I. generally gets involved in cases when all leads have been exhausted by LE and the case is going cold. Families typically hire a private investigator to pick up the case, follow-up on leads, go over old avenues, and try to generate new tips. Is this a new trend with another investigative segment getting involved in missing cases?
Psychics have always been in the background of missing cases. Law enforcement agencies have used renowed physics on previous cases and paid for out of a special fund. In the last year, psychics seem to be more prevalent in missing children cases. A couple of psychics have jumped into the mix; begging for donations to pay expenses and claiming they deserve the reward. Two, in particular, have not gone without a small circle of controversy.
Speaking of controversy. It seems all these characters involved in the search and investigation of missing children play a role in much of the bantering between members of blogs. Some characters seem to split bloggers and pit them against each other. Some characters are legitimate and necessary in cases, such as law enforcement and certain national organizations, but when psychics, PIs, bounty hunters, public relations, lawyers, and “press” get tied in, the investigation seems to get complicated.
It seems more and more these cases bring out the worse in some people. There are always going to be bad apples in every profession, but once they get involved, how does one get them uninvolved? They seem to latch on and with some community or public support, they are bolstered into remaining attached to the investigation. Then the case no longer seems to be about the missing child, but rather about who is more important or who is developing leads.
With new cases surfacing what seems to be weekly, maybe some laws need to be changed. Victims need more of a voice. In the name of the victims, there needs to be better organization between agencies, more communication, and coordination of services in order to utilize available resources to best benefit the searches and investigations.
by: picklebarrel and crawdad08
