Support The Help The Missing Act a.k.a. Billy’s Law (S.3019) Targeting: The President of the United States and The U.S. Senate
Started by: Sarah Robin The United States House of Representatives has passed the Help The Missing Act a.k.a. Billy's Law. Now we need the United States Senate to pass it and for President Obama to sign it into law.
The Help The Missing Act a.k.a. Billy's Law (S.3019), is a bill designed to aid families searching for missing loved ones. It will create incentives for all law enforcement agencies, medical examiners and coroners to be trained in how to properly process all missing persons cases, as well as enter the data into the NamUs system which was created by the Department of Justice.
The bill would authorize the sharing of information from the National Crime Information Center database to the NamUs database, therefore, increasing the number of case resolutions and potentially bringing answers to families of missing persons all across our country. Currently there are over 40,000 unidentified remains in our country and this database will aid in making matches to current missing persons, allowing families to know what happened to their loved one.
Under Billy's Law the Attorney General would be authorized to maintain the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or NamUs, to contain missing persons records and unidentified remains cases to assist in identifying missing people and solve cases of unidentified human remains.
The Attorney General would also be directed to:
-(1) share information on missing persons and unidentified human remains contained in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing and Unidentified Person File database with the NamUs database;
-(2) update the online data entry format for such databases to allow states to report information to each database;
-(3) establish a grant program to assist in the reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains information to the NCIC and NamUs databases;
-(4) issue a report to the offices of medical examiners, offices of coroners, and federal, state, local, and tribal
law enforcement agencies describing the best practices for collecting, reporting, and analyzing data and information on missing persons and unidentified human remains;
-(5) report to Congress on the status of the NCIC Missing and Unidentified Person File and NamUs databases.
Please call and/or write your U.S. Senators and President Obama and tell them to pass Billy's Law.
Also please sign the online petition below for Billy's Law.
Petition TextThe Help The Missing Act a.k.a. Billy’s Law (S.3019)Dear President Obama and United States Senate;
I am writing this letter in support of pending legislation, Billy’s Law (S3019).
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 4,000 unidentified remains are discovered each year. After one year, 1,000 of these bodies remain unidentified. With tens of thousands of people reported missing each year, it is likely that a family member, friend, or loved one is looking for that unidentified person and simply can’t find them due to the absence of a cooperative effort by law enforcement across the country.
Some law enforcement agencies have a lack adaisical attitude when they receive a report for the “voluntarily missing” and often there is very little effort to search for them. The problem is when the case goes long term. If there is any follow-up at all, often it is long after the initial report. Often those long term cases have not been resolved because the missing person has died and their remains lay unidentified in a county morgue or cemetery.
The problem we face is there is no national protocol in play to assist investigators to bridge the gap between missing persons and unidentified persons cases.
The Help Find the Missing Act will bridge the gap.
The National Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is by far becoming one of the best ways for the public and law enforcement agencies across the country to work together to help bring missing loved ones home! Since its launch in June of last year, the database of unidentified decedents and missing persons has proved essential in solving 16 cases. With the passing of Billy’s Law, this number only stands to grow. Unfortunately, without the funding of Billy’s Law not all law enforcement agencies are able to allocate the resources necessary to use the NamUs system.
The passing of Billy’s Law would make it possible for agencies across the country to input information on their unidentified decedents, increasing the number of case resolutions and potentially bringing closure to families of missing persons all across our country.
I support this funding and hope that you do as well. I respectfully urge you to pass S3019 when it comes before you.
[Your name]
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/support_the_help_the_missing_act_aka_billys_law_s3019