Abduction is a nightmare that no one should have to go through. Unfortunately, some of us will. It can affect not only the immediate family but the entire community. For those who are closest to the abduction, the stress can be unbearable. It affects judgment and reason. U-Search has composed a "checklist" of what to do and what to expect when a loved one goes missing. It breaks down the search for a loved one into 3 phases. If you are engaged in a search, feel free to copy this checklist. All time frames are relative. Your search may experience these phases sooner or later than those listed
Preface:
Each local neighborhood should have an emergency call tree. This call tree is a list of phone numbers that can be called in the case of any emergency. The idea is simple. Every person on the list has the phone numbers of others on the list. All names should be grouped alphabetically or by some other means. The first caller (the person who is having the emergency) calls two or three people on the list in different groups (i.e. one person from group A one person from group B, etc.). If there is no answer, then go to the next number in that group. Tell the people you have called which groups you are working on and ask them to call one number in each of the other groups. They will in turn instruct the people they call to call the rest of the numbers in that group.The message is spread quickly around the neighborhood. It is an effective way to summons help quickly.
Phase: 1 Timeframe: 0 hours to 3 weeks after abduction is suspected
Call Police (emergency is 911 in most areas).
Get Amber Alert issued.
An amber alert is a regional alert that is sent to newspapers, television stations, local police and other agencies that can help generate awareness about the abduction. The local police will issue an amber alert if the criteria for such an alert is met.
Many distractions will arise during all phases of the search. The family may come under investigation, certain individuals may become suspects and rumors will run amok. Do not allow these distractions to change the focus of the search. It may become necessary to remind people, media and other organizations that the issue is still the missing person.
Find a location for a central command.
Find a place that can be set up quickly.
Plan to use this space for at least one month, possibly longer.
Be sure the area is easily accessible.
Be sure there is ample parking for hundreds of volunteers.
Set up one, two, three, four and Five mile radius searches.
Create "Line Drive" grid searches.
A "Line Drive" grid search is useful for any area covered by foliage. The premise is to map out an area that is reasonable to search dictated by how dense the foliage is (i.e. a 200 foot by 1000 foot area for dense vegetation). Then form a line of people at one end of the area. Place them an arms length from each other then proceed to search the area without breaking this formation. Every person in the line searches only their area. In this manner, a dense area can be thoroughly searched in a manner of minutes. Call out the victim's name often and listen for a response.
Post outposts.
Whenever possible, post outposts to monitor areas. This can be as simple as having volunteers monitoring their own neighborhoods for suspicious activity to setting up posts on hilltops in remote areas to watch for campfire smoke or other signs of life. Often this may be coordinated with military volunteer or police efforts.
Start door to door searches.
Although a door to door search is less of a search than it is a public relations effort, many bits of information can be collected this way. Ask people if they have seen any activity they may think is suspicious. Ask people to search their own property for anything "out of the ordinary" and see if they can do it while you wait. Take note of any abandoned property or property under construction and search the best you can (obtain permission to search on private property). Encourage others to help you in your volunteer efforts. Call out the victims name often and listen for a response. You may want to create your own list of questions to ask pertaining circumstances surrounding the abduction, take special note not to give police specified information away.
The family of the victim needs to be prepared. Appoint someone to oversee this.
Be sure the family is counseled, nourished, rested and medicated.
As stated before, a situation such as this is an incredible source of stress on everyone, especially the immediate family. It is absurd to think that anyone can face this alone. Although there is still a social stigma related to counseling, a counselor should always be retained for the family. An evaluation should be given, to assess how each family member is coping with the stress, once or twice a week for the first month then once a month as needed. The counselor should always be "on call" in case anyone slips into crisis.
This stress can also manifest itself in other ways. Many times, family members can become too "depressed or obsessed" to remember common things such as eating and sleeping: These things are vital to a successful search! Be sure someone always prepares meals for the family, even if you have to rely on take out food for the first few weeks.
A family doctor should be on call and apprised of the situation to prescribe whatever medication the family needs during this time, someone should make sure they take it. Apart from any regular medications any family member may take, it is very common for sleep to not be an option. Sleep aids and other stress related medication should be prescribed as needed.
Although sometimes it is unavoidable, it can hinder search efforts when any family member is hospitalized due to stress, exhaustion or illness. This is why it is vital to follow the above suggestions. Many times a family member may not realize they need help until it is too late.
Establish a family call tree to pass information quickly.
Be sure the family has their own call list that can dispatch information to all of the other family members. The premise is thus: you want the family to know all information before the news media. This could save in counseling costs later.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Statistics about the rescue of a victim can be meaningless in a search. Statistics on perpetrator profiles can be much more useful. During the first few hours of a search, there is great hope that the missing person will be found alive. That hope tends to fade with each passing day. This should not be the case. Often, the reason nothing has been found is because there is nothing to find. Although many searches are conducted as recovery searches, the fact that nothing has been recovered is a positive sign. Both recovery and rescue should be pursued equally. The family should not give up hope the victim is alive until proven otherwise. However, the family should be prepared as best as they can if the news comes in of a recovery.
Create a phone hotline.
Prepare a phone line exclusively for use as a tip line. Be sure the number is included with that of the local police department. Be sure there is voicemail available, you will not always have someone there to take the call. In addition, create an e-mail hotline, this should be in conjunction with a missing person web site. Remind people they can remain anonymous.
Create a missing person's web site.
Include vital statistics of the victim. Display reward information. Include the e-mail and phone hotlines. Display pictures of the victim. Remind everyone that the victim is a fellow human being by using one or two line descriptions of their personality, nicknames, favorite foods or hobbies. Have a volunteer call around to the local internet hosting companies to see if one will host your site for free. If you are not an internet guru, or you do not know one, see if the hosting company or one of it's staff would volunteer to set up a page for you. Chances are if they won't, they will know someone who will.
Set up a donation and reward account.
Check to see if your city has a miscilanious sub account for a 501C3 taht tax deductable donations can be made to for reward money. If not, check with local banks and credit unions to see if they would set up an account for rewards and donations. Be sure to state that if the funds are not used then they will be donated to the effort of finding other missing kids.
Assess local resources for aid in search efforts.
Contact office supply stores for essentials such as pencils, pens, clipboards, binders, etc.
Contact printers for flyers, posters, banners, business cards, etc.
Contact advertising companies for billboards, banners, etc.
Contact grocers and restaurants to see if they will donate food / water and other edibles for searchers.
Contact your local HAM radio operators club and individuals with pleas for two-way radios, GPS units and other technology.
Get other organizations involved.
Contact other search groups, victim's advocate groups, search and rescue, The Salvation Army, private aviators, hiking organizations, hunting organizations, the state governor to see if the local National Guard may volunteer, any and all organizations that may be able to help.
Create a media strategy.
Humanize the victim. Remind everyone that the victim is a human being and not an object.
Get pictures together, release four or five up front, then relese the others over the following weeks or months. This will help keep the victims face fresh and the media involved.
Create a family slogan if possible. A catchphrase that will remind people of the search.
If they haven't already been created, create a flyer with the victims picture, name, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, gender, abductors description, reward information, police telephone and hotline telephone numbers.
If they haven't already been created, create business cards that have the same content as the flyer.
Create buttons with pictures of the victim. If plausible, include the slogan or another slogan (i.e. "Please find me" or "Pray for me").
Create ribbons, use the victims favorite color.
Create the central command post infrastructure.
The family should storyboard all info they have received from the search center each night. These records should be kept until rescue or recovery. Keep very thorough records and continually review them.
Delegate different family members to different tasks where appropriate (i.e. if one is good at public speaking, assign that person to be over searcher relations). The immediate family should stray from dealing directly with the media due to the stress they will already be under; they should only speak when necessary. If available, appoint a friend to be a family spokesperson. This will help the family especially if blame falls on them; the spokesperson will have an easier time answering questions or deferring the question off to police.
Appoint a family member as a logistics director to oversee search center functions, after all, it's their search.
Appoint a "stage manager / baby sitter / psychotherapist" to deal with issues that will crop up among search center volunteers. Remember, everyone will be under stress. Be prepared for petty arguments and high emotions. The "stage manager / baby sitter / psychotherapist" will need to keep a level head and deal diplomatically with these events as they arise.
Appoint communications positions: this is where you find your family spokesperson(s). It will be important to shelter the immediate family from the media. Whenever appropriate, all communications with the media and other non search related groups should be done through a spokesperson.
Get the family cleared by the police.
This may seem like something that should take care of itself. Many times it doesn't until late in the search. It is better for all public and media relations to have the family cleared immediately. This will prevent many rumors and "scandals" that tend to creep up in situations like these. The police may also be more open with a family once they have been cleared.
Make an announcement asking the public to check their personal property.
Ask them to check daily for anything out of the ordinary. Also ask them to keep a heightened awareness for anything they deem suspicious. Most law abiding people will forgive being interrogated by police under the circumstance that you are searching for a missing person. You also never know when reporting the one thing that seems odd will crack a case wide open (i.e. a male that suddenly changes buying habits at a grocery store like buying feminine hygene products, etc.).
Check for local video footage.
Check with local gas stations, car washes, convenience stores, hardware and grocery stores, truck stops, air ports, any and all places that keep security cameras and ask them to review their footage on the days surrounding the disappearance. If they can't afford the time, ask if a volunteer may do it. Review all tape footage for signs of the victim.
Be aware of local activities.
Be aware of local hunts, marathons, hikes, bikes and any other activity that get's people "out and about". This is a great opportunity to ask them to keep an eye out for anything that may lead to the victim. For instance, many victims are recovered or key evidence is found during a hunt. It is also a good opportunity to remind people of the victim. This should be done continually throughout the search and not just in the first phase.
Phase: 2 Timeframe: 2 to 3 weeks after abduction
Volunteer numbers will start to drop if they haven't already. At this point, it may no longer be feasible nor effective to keep a central command center open. This, however, does not mean that the search efforts will diminish. Although the excitement level will no longer be at a fever pitch, the search efforts can double or even triple. You will find a number of people loyal to your search that will be able to volunteer on a regular basis. These people will be vital to the next phase of your search efforts. Try to establish what communities these individuals belong to and if they know their local leaders both in and out of government. The volunteer would then agree to be the point of contact for their community to help others organize and perform searches. These groups will be responsible for organizing searches, getting local community leaders involved and reminding citizens and the media that the search is still very much alive.
The family should retain counseling, new feelings will arise including loss of hope. Many of these feelings will need to be dealt with. Closing a central search center will be hard on everyone involved. A firm support group for everyone will be necessary.
The family should continue to storyboard nightly and review the information and timeline
Organize community searches
Organize a call team to call community contacts to organize searches, this would include team organizers as well as search volunteers. This will be similar to making cold sales calls; people will not want to volunteer. For this reason, family members should not be involved unless they are strong willed.
Contact local government leaders in each community to get involved, this will not only boost morale but will also help in drawing media and public attention.
Contact local clubs and other organizations and ask them to volunteer.
Contact trained searchers from the central command to head up search teams and train others.
Be sure all information obtained through community searches is relayed to the search center.
Put together packets for organizing community searches.
Put together packets consisting of all necessary forms, sign-up sheets, posters, flyers, buttons, ribbons and instructions.
Create a new media strategy.
Media is not your enemy by any means. They are a necessary and vital part to your search efforts. In a search situation, the media and the search form a symbiotic relationship. Your goals, however, will differ from those of the media. The media will report events that get peoples attention. Keeping the media aware of the story as it is unfolding is a good way to keep peoples attention. However, you can't release anything that will compromise the search. This can be a difficult balance to achieve. Some things you can do to keep media interest are:
Do community search launches with community leaders and organizations, make an event out of it.
Find, participate or create initiatives to create legislative or community change such as taking up a neighborhood watch initiative or a child safety fair. This will keep media interest and allow you to keep your story alive.
Ask the state police to have an outside law enforcement group review the case at the 3 month mark.
Create new flyers and posters and replace the old ones with the new ones.
Phase: 3 Timeframe: 2-3 months on
Community search efforts will start to dwindle as people get on with their own priorities. This may have already happened. There will be a point where even community searches will become less effective than having people keep a heightened awareness. This is the phase where "shotgun" search efforts will be replaced by "specialized", investigative searches. This is a point where the search will switch gears the most, into an investigative mode.
It will still be necessary for the family and all involved to retain a counselor. Every time the search changes, the adjustments will be hard. Also at this point a support network of people who have been down this road before will become a benefit. (Yes, you can e-mail anyone at u-search at any time for this type of support.)
Review all data and create specialized searches.
The family should continue to storyboard all information each night and review. They should also petition law enforcement for any information they can share. From this information, the family or search center can organize "specialized" searches. At this point, you should rely on the "loyal" volunteers who can be trusted and who will be with you until the end. These will be smaller searches, but concentrated on "areas of interest". All volunteers at this point should be cleared by law enforcement.
Keep the media informed of all searches and the reasons for the searches. Share as much information as prudent without compromising the search.
Refresh your flyers and posters every 3 months.
Have state law enforcement review the case again at the 6 month or one year mark.
