NamUs

In 2008 my friend Todd Matthews asked me if I would like to help with beta testing on a piece of software called PassageWay. I didn’t know it at the time but the work that we did with that piece of beta testing is probably one of the most important things I have ever done in my life!

Later in 2009 that software became what is now the Missing Person Database at NamUs. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

There are actually two databases in the system.One is the Missing Person’s database and the other is the Unidentified Dead database. The most unique thing about the Missing Person database is that anyone can enter information about a missing person. You don’t have to be law enforcement, you don’t have to belong to any organization, or even be a member of the missing person’s family. ANYONE can enter missing person cases. This is the first time that any type of database has been put into place that civilians are allowed to use right along with law enforcement.

At first I thought that this might cause some problems but really it doesn’t.  I could envision tons of cases that were not really missing persons being entered. After working with missing child cases for so long I knew about persons who were unhappy with custody rulings that would try claim that their children were kidnapped by the other parent. Putting in a  call to law  enforcement and find out if a case was truly a missing child case was one of the first things I would do to verify a case. So far as I know this has not been a real problem with NamUs. Once a case gets entered a NamUs caseworker verifies with law enforcement to make sure there is a missing person report etc.

Once a case is entered into the Missing Person database inquiries begin to run between both databases to look for possible matches.

You can actually use NamUs to your advantage for a missing person case you might have filed. When I first started talking/posting about NamUs I had a family member tell me that NamUs =death. I know that some people felt that way. However, NamUs is also a good way to get the law enforcement officer in charge to take another look at your missing person case no matter how old it is. Once a federal agency like the DOJ or NIJ start asking questions you can bet that whatever else your local law enforcement office has been doing with your case, they are going to start looking at it again.

 I cannot think of anything that I would call a con with NamUs. However, I do wish to address the fact that many of the missing person organizations are unhappy with the advent of this database. This makes me question the motives of some, I know that some view the database as a competitor but really, a database is a tool. 

A tool for everyone to use. We are only as little as we let ourselves feel and this is the one thing that many of us who volunteer for the missing has hoped and dreamed for, all of these years. I intend to take the ball and run with it! I hope all of you will too.