Reaching Out to the Families of the Missing

A missing person is indeed the greatest tragedy at the individual family level. It's just hidden in the masses of others unaffected. If a entire city experienced the situation simultaneously -- imagine the impact on the entire nation.

Even in a small city like my hometown of Livingston, Tennessee. If each family were to feel the loss at the personal level at the same time -- imagine the magnitude of the event. Without the shared experience of the tragedy it becomes lost in the shuffle of day to day events.

That's why it is so important to make the resource of www.NamUs.gov known to the public. It is a tool you can use at the family level.

The Missing Persons Database contains information that can be entered by anyone. Before a missing persons case will appear on this Web site, however, it will be validated. The site also provides links to state clearinghouses, medical examiners and coroners, victim assistance groups and pertinent legislation. There's over 100,000 known missing persons in the USA.

The Unidentified Decedents Database contains information entered by medical examiners and coroners. Anyone can search the database using characteristics such as sex, race, distinct body features and dental information. There are up to 50,000 cases of unidentified remains in the USA.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is the first national repository for missing persons and unidentified decedent records. Unidentified decedents are people who have died and whose bodies have not been identified.

NamUs consists of two databases that anyone can search. The Justice Department hopes that law enforcement officials and the public will use the databases to share information to solve cases.

All users are on the same page, the same core data. But law enforcement users have a more intense level of access to information not available to the public. So the system can be used as an investigative and communication tool.

We encourage law enforcement to register for access to the system as soon as possible.

The NamUs Missing Persons database can be directly accessed via - www.FindTheMissing.org or via www.NamUs.gov



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