"It's every parent's worst nightmare, but the reality still is that's just a fact when it comes to law enforcement involvement in these roles and in these investigations," Former APD Cmdr. Paul Szych said.
Szych knows about the ins and outs of these investigations. He says his one concern with missing persons units is how they are staffed. The missing persons unit may have fewer officers because there are other crimes with more evidence to investigate.
"They are going to be usually staffed, those units, that would be in charge of these investigations with a very low amount of investigators because there may be absolutely no additional information," Syzch said.
The department of Public Safety's missing persons list includes 233 people from Albuquerque. For them, APD's Missing Persons unit has five officers. By comparison, the Crimes Against Children unit has nine officers. The homicide unit has 16 officers.
Target 7 asked Vega if there is a need to beef up the missing persons unit. He said he's confident that the five people's experience in the unit share are able to do the work needed to solve cases like Anastasia's.
"As the deputy chief, I'm comfortable where they are at," Vega said.
Meanwhile, a mother is still missing her daughter months after she was last seen. Padilla says others have the same frustrations she does.
For 400 days, Anastasia Ferriera has been missing from Albuquerque. Her mother has tried working with police, but they won't tell her much about the investigation.
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