Ever since Sierra LaMar — a 15-year-old girl from Morgan Hill (Calif.) — vanished on March 16, 2012, some 750 volunteers have conducted more than 1,000 sorties and devoted an estimated 15,000 hours searching for her. That volunteer effort has now come to a close, although LaMar has not yet been found.
The anniversary of LaMar’s disappearance provides an opportunity for all agencies across the country to review preparedness for response to a missing child — particularly the management of what may be a huge number of emergent volunteers.
I was recently reminded that suspects who have abducted and murdered a child sometimes attempt to interject themselves into the investigation, often as volunteers in the search or other areas of the police response. Obviously, all volunteers should have background checks performed before they are allowed to assist, but there are other considerations regarding volunteers.
The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention offers the following guidance on the use of volunteers during a search:
“Volunteers can be an asset in the search and recovery of a missing child; however, if not properly screened, trained, and prepared, they can compromise the operation. An agency-assigned volunteer coordinator should create a plan that specifies how volunteers will be used as a resource in missing child cases.
“Agencies can incorporate a volunteer protocol within their plan in one of two ways. They can use a predetermined corps of volunteers who are selected and trained for use in child abductions or other incidents, or they can specify procedures to be used when an incident occurs and volunteers are needed or asked to assist. Both established volunteer groups and individual volunteers offer skills and resources that can be used before, during, and after an emergency.”
Command staff and patrol officers alike should ensure that the agency has solid plans and policies in place for a sustained, large-scale, missing-child search.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is an invaluable resource for law enforcement. For one thing, they offer a model policy which can serve as the foundation for writing new policy as well as a resource to double-check existing plans.
Further, NCMEC offers a variety of online and in-person training courses to law enforcement on various aspects of missing and sexually exploited children cases.
In the event of a missing child search in your jurisdiction, NCMEC Team Adam provides rapid, on-site assistance to law enforcement agencies and families in serious cases of missing children. Team Adam consultants are retired law enforcement professionals with years of investigative experience at the federal, state and local levels.
The NCMEC has also developed software — named the Simple Leads Management System — to manage and prioritize leads associated with missing-child investigations. It is available at no cost by calling NCMEC’s Missing Children Division at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
Thanks in large part to NCMEC’s tireless and heroic efforts, the recovery rate of missing children has risen from 62 percent in 1990 to more than 97 percent today.
Let’s keep working to improve that, one child at a time.
Stay safe out there my friends.
