Message to families of missing people

Source: http://www.damiennettles.com/Message.html
October 5, 2010  Letter to MP's
Do we really want to go back there?  Please take a moment to read this and if
you can cut and paste this letter and forward this to your MP as a matter
of urgency, please do so.  We will be taking a huge step backwards with the
closure of this organization and put power back to local levels where cases
like my son's will be swept under the carpet until it is too late to follow a
trail.....

If you are not in the UK, maybe write directly
to Theresa May, who oversea’s the NPIA, mayt@parliament.uk,
addressed as Mrs May                                                Contact your local MP's,click here
                                                                      

Dear {your MP}

The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) Missing Persons Bureau faces closure or having its services re-structured, according to a leaked Government document listing 129 public bodies, which will be consolidated down to something in the region of 57, by the end of 2012.

The NPIA Missing Persons Bureau is the national and international point of contact in the UK for all missing and unidentified cases and is the centre for information exchange, knowledge and expertise on the missing.  It provides an integrated service for missing adults and children. People who go missing can travel extensively, crossing borders on a regional, national and international level.  There is a real need for a national operational unit to manage both missing children and adults.

Currently, outside of the smaller NGO’s, there is no support for parents of children abducted into the UK and little available to parents of children missing abroad, having the NPIA Missing Person’s Bureau has enabled smaller NGO’s to get additional governmental department services so rightly deserved in these cases.

The Bureau also has strong productive links with related groups and charities, including Forever Searching.  It has provided a platform to bring these smaller NGO’s together to share and exchange information and advice, and more importantly to give the families and friends of missing loved ones a voice through these
organisations.

Let us highlight for you the risk and the impact that closing of the NPIA Bureau would have on the issue of missing people.

·                       patterns of missing indicating crime and harm going unnoticed

·                       long term unresolved cases

·                       unresolved suspicious and murder cases

·                       duplication of effort trying to resolve these cases and safeguard individuals

·                       inconsistent and impeded response to cross-border cases

·                       inability to improve and disseminate good practice

·                       failure to resolve cases using other national services such as the national Missing Persons DNA Database, Missing Persons Dental Records file and the National Fingerprint Database

·                       lack of oversight of joined up multi-agency services

Again, let us highlight for you the risks of splitting the services offered by NPIA into other agencies:

There will be confusion around responsibilities in various cases involving adults and children who go missing together and children who turn 18 whilst missing.

There will be significant difficulties regarding those aged 16-25 years.  This age group is vulnerable as they are in a transition period between childhood and adulthood, i.e. Information and advice drop in service Check-Point provide services for young people up to the age of 22. http://www.torbay.gov.uk/checkpoint  Young people who are cared for in the care system are eligible for support until they are 25.

Separating missing children and adult police co-ordination will have a negative impact on the police response.  We believe that the Missing Persons Bureau is essential to link missing persons cases and link victims of murder who have been reported missing.

Missing people are known to travel large distances; this is especially true in cases of parental abduction. Our charity has much experience in this area from its support to families and friends.  A national service like the NPIA is needed to resolve these cases.

Without a national Bureau working to resolve both missing adult and child cases we have great concerns that the impetus of the recent Taskforce may be lost. Some of the issues identified by the Missing Persons Taskforce include:

·              Lack of public understanding on the issue of missing people.

·              Data collection is poor.

·              Responses from multi-agencies are not co-ordinated.

·              Roles and responsibilities of all agencies are not clear

·              Levels of support to families of the missing is not sufficient

Further details on these recommendations to improve the multi-agency response to missing incidents are set out in The Missing Persons Taskforce report.     http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Missing-persons-taskforce.html

Supported by smaller NGO’s such as ourselves and Missing Abroad, the group Family and Friends of the
Missing have been calling for additional support to people caught up in this nightmare situation.  This resulted -in EDM1119 which subsequently came to nothing.  We urge you to continue the work of the NPIA Missing Person’s Bureau within the new National Crime Agency.  Strong links to the charitable sector are also needed to provide the necessary support and comfort to the families left behind.

The most important issue for families and friends is to have a unified, structured and supportive Governmental body working to in this field to help find those who are missing.

We would respectfully request that the services provided for missing people are not compromised by the re-structure of police services and the phasing out of the NPIA.

Yours sincerely


...sign here..