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Websleuths Member misheley26 has put a lot of her time and effort into getting this bill out on the web for people to read and act on. Please take the time to read it and do your part. By you taking 60 seconds of your time you could change the law to help find the missing.
Thank you to misheley26 for bringing this to our attention. We are proud to have you as a member.
Thank you to misheley26 for bringing this to our attention. We are proud to have you as a member.
Websleuths Members & Guests, Please Help! Less Than 1 Minute Of Your Time Can Make All The Difference for the Missing and their Families!
H.R. 3695, also known as The Help Find The Missing Act (Billy's Law)
is now before the US House of Representatives. It will help close the gaps in the uniform reporting of missing persons, no matter who they are, in order to expedite investigations and identifications if passed. Click here to view this very important bill.
Having received Tricia's approval, I'm asking that you submit your name, email and mailing address right now, while the bill is before the house, by clicking here. When you do, a letter will be sent to your Federal Congressman asking that he/she support the bill. You don't even have to sign up for an account to just enter these 4 things. 5,000 people are needed so please copy/paste content about this bill into an email to everyone you know.
H.R. 3695 is endorsed by: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Doe Missing Persons Network, Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, Inc., National Center for Forensic Science, Forensic Science Technology Center, National Order of Police, National Associations of Police Organizations (NAPO) click here to see their letter, Peace4TheMissing, Please Help Find The Missing Group, Project EDAN, Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Fraternal Order of Police, National Associations of Police Organizations (NAPO), Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Center for Hope, CUECENTER, LostNMissing Inc., Sponsored by Representatives Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ted Poe (R-TX) and Cosponsored by Walt Minnick (ID-I), Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
An Overview of H.R. 3695 The Help Find The Missing Act (Billy's Law)
Every year tens of thousands of Americans go missing, never to be seen by their loved ones again. Additionally, there are also an estimated 40,000 sets of unidentified human remains that are being held or disposed of across the country. Sadly, because of gaps in the nation's missing persons systems, missing persons and unidentified remains are rarely matched. The Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law) is an effort to fix these gaps. We want to help families to have the resources so that we can lessen the burden on the system as well as bringing loved ones home for a proper burial.
This legislation is named after Billy Smolinski of Waterbury, Connecticut who went missing on August 24, 2004 at the age of 31. Billy's family knows all-too-well the systemic challenges in trying to find the missing. They quickly learned that while federal law mandates law enforcement report missing children, there are no such requirements for adults - or unidentified bodies. Compounding this problem is the fact that local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and coroners, often don't have the resources or training to voluntarily report these cases. Finally, even when missing adults and remains are reported, the wide-range of unconnected federal, state, local, and non-profit databases to help match the missing with unidentified bodies, makes finding a match an often insurmountable challenge.
Billys Law builds upon recent efforts to address these issues by:
- Authorizing, and therefore helping to ensure funding for, the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), which was created in July 2007 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide a missing persons/unidentified database that the public could access and contribute;
- Connecting NamUs with the FBIs National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in order to create more comprehensive missing persons and unidentified remains databases and streamlining the reporting process for local law enforcement;
- Creating an incentive grants program to help states, local law enforcement and medical examiners/coroners report missing persons and unidentified remains to NCIC, NamUs, and the National DNA Index System (NDIS);
- Calling on the DOJ to issue guidelines and best practices on handling missing persons and unidentified remains cases in order to empower law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners to help find the missing.
"...notice there are more new endorsements. There are MORE! YIPEEEE!"
She sent the email when only 64 had entered their information and there it remains at last check. Her excitement is beautiful...it is excitment that maybe these
improvements will help families in the future; families that share something in common...a loss no one should ever have to know.
But we need many more (a minimum of 5000) so please help make the difference by telling your congressman that you want them to support this bill and copy/paste the content about this bill into an email and sent to everyone you know.
Thank you.
If you have any difficulty in getting redirected to any of the below by clicking on the underlined (and hyperlinked) text above, you can copy/paste the following into your browser address bar...
View H.R. 3695 The Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law) at http://tinyurl.com/BillHR3695
Enter your information to support the bill at http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/support_for_hr_3695_the_help_find_the_missing_act_billys_lawView
View the National Association of Police Organization's (NAPO) Endorsement Letter at http://tinyurl.com/NAPO-HR3695