BAMFI shares ‘best practices’ guide for missing person investigations

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia — Kathryn Bene Griffin was lost He has been from Portsmouth since 2012.

“It was tough,” Griffin’s mother, Linda Archie, said during our conversation last year. “I wish he was here.”

Sharon Ivy Jones was lost He has been from Norfolk since 2002.

“It’s like a part of you is gone and lost,” said Sharon’s mother, Thelma Jones. “There’s just a lot of unknowns.”

Janice Laneau Wright was lost I have lived in Suffolk since 1993.

“What about my mother? She was somebody too,” said Alexander Young, the youngest of Wright’s four children. “I wouldn’t want something like this to happen to anybody else, to have loved ones go missing and you never hear about it.”

Watch previous news: Data shows black women are more likely to go missing, but receive less news coverage than missing white women

Data: Black women are more likely to go missing, but receive less news coverage than missing white women

These three black women from Hampton Roads are just a fraction of the disproportionate number of black people missing in America. It’s a bleak trend. Black and Missing Foundation working to repair it.

“Law enforcement is your first point of contact in missing persons cases, and you want them to approach your case with caution,” said Derrica Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation.

Wilson, who worked as a law enforcement officer in Northern Virginia for more than two decades, founded the Black and Missing Foundation with her sister-in-law, Natalie Wilson, to bring awareness to missing people of color, a group of people who are disproportionately reported missing in America. Data shows that people of color have traditionally received less attention and coverage from law enforcement and journalistic organizations. It’s a topic News 3 has been working on for years.

“I’ve seen firsthand how often so many (missing persons) cases are ignored,” Derrica Wilson told me in an interview this week. “I’ve also seen the lack of training in how to handle missing persons cases.”

Watch previous news: Exploring racial disparities in missing persons reporting

Racial differences in missing persons coverage

“The community can’t help you find someone if they’re not aware that they’re missing,” she continued. “Families just want someone to follow up. They want them to take their case seriously.”

The foundation released the following this summer: “Law Enforcement Best Practices Guide for Missing Persons Investigations”A resource “designed to support law enforcement agencies nationwide and enhance investigative strategies in missing persons cases, with a special emphasis on addressing the critical issue of racial disparities that disproportionately impact minority communities.”

The guide, which free download The foundation’s website offers guidance for law enforcement to approach cases with urgency and empathy.

For example, the guide uses the case of missing law student Jordan Taylor to highlight how the choice of words and photographs in a brochure can create the perception of a missing person.

“It appears he’s a criminal,” Wilson said of the first flier created for Taylor by a law enforcement agency. “He appears to be wanted, not a missing person.”

Wilson and the foundation have created a new brochure that offers:a free template for law enforcement and families to create their own law.

The guide also recommends that law enforcement agencies discontinue the use of the term “runaway” when referring to missing children.

“There’s a perception that whatever happened to this kid, he brought it on himself because he decided to run away,” Wilson said. “They’re in danger, they’re missing, and we need to look for them.”

Watch previous news: Police failed to submit images of some missing children in Virginia to database

News 3 Investigates: Police Fail to Submit Images of Some Missing Children in Virginia to Database

The guide also highlights missing persons alerts that law enforcement can access, including the Ashanti Alert, a missing and endangered adult alert named after Ashanti Billie, a 19-year-old Virginia Beach woman who was abducted from her job in Norfolk in 2017 and later found murdered in North Carolina.

I spoke to Ashanti’s mother last month national announcement of the warning.

“This is all because of her,” said mother Brandy Billie-Moore. “(My daughter) represents everyone’s sister, brother, mother, father, uncle, best friend who could be lost.”

The foundation’s guidance also calls on law enforcement to abandon the 24-hour waiting period for reporting a missing person, which does not apply in Virginia. Wilson hopes other agencies will follow Virginia’s lead.

“It really takes an effort from all of us. We have law enforcement, media and the community to help find us,” Wilson said.

I reached out to police departments in seven Hampton Roads cities to see if they were aware of the guidance and planned to implement any of its recommendations. Spokespeople for police departments in Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach said they would keep leaders informed and follow up.

Wilson said several agencies in Northern Virginia have downloaded the guide, according to that report. The foundation is also on hand to provide training to law enforcement, Wilson said.