Been away due to Hurricane Isaac and just as I get back on, here it comes again, well, the remnants anyway.
I can speak as to the efforts of local LE concerning BW's case, as I am sure that a few others here can too. If it seems or appears that the MPD has done little or nothing to locate BW or determine the actual reason for her disappearance then please do not be fooled, that is exactly what they have done, little to nothing.
In every case, whether drugs, murder or theft, the MPD has begged for community support and vigilance to bring the perps to justice. This is evidenced by the great number of pleas to the community by LE and city officials. However, they have been strangely silent concerning BW's case. And when they do speak they sound defensive as if their very integrity is being assaulted unjustly.
We are talking about a missing citizen that has, dispite their constant denial, disappeared under suspicious circumstances and their best effort is to respond to tips as they come in?
Every officer takes an oath to serve and protect the citizenry from those that would do harm. When last I checked there were no exceptions to that oath nor was there fine print located on the badge they wear that allows them to give less than their best just because the citizen, in this case, is a teen that has had a run in with the law or is a known drug abuser. She is still a human and a resident of Mobile County and lives within the three mile jurisdiction zone of the MPD. She has had a job in the past and, though she has had her ups and downs, I cannot find where she has been arrested nor has warrants out for her arrest.
By all accounts, BW is a teen that has made poor decisions in her past. Thank God that nothing like this happened to any of us when we were teens and made poor decisions because I hate to think that any of us would be treated in such a way by those who have sworn to protect us.
If this is seen as a scathing review of the way the local LE has handled the BW disappearance case then good, because I believe they haven't done enough. I believe they became reactive from day one instead of being proactive. Someone looked at her case and decided that, for whatever reason, it did not deserve or warrant the high level of effort that other cases may have received in the past or since. What those reasons are may never be fully known and that is, perhaps, the greatest travesty of all, because I believe that the majority of our LE officers do their profession justice but the actions of the department, at least in this local's mind, brings their ability to serve and protect without prejudice and with the upmost respect for the position they have obtained through the badge they wear into question.