An anti-violence activist said the police’s increased frequency of issuing missing persons alerts is not enough to help bring missing children home. The media, schools and churches must also take an active role.
An anti-violence activist said the police’s increased frequency of issuing missing persons alerts is not enough to help bring missing children home. The media, schools and churches must also take an active role.
Activist Andrew Holmes, who also helps families search for their missing loved ones, said the media shouldn’t have to wait for direction from the police department before a photo of a missing child is reported on the news.
Holmes helped the family of slain 12-year-old Jahmeshia Conner. The girl’s family contacted local media outlets about Conner, who had been reported missing before her dead body was found in a South Side alley, but her case received no attention, he said.
“A child’s picture shown on the television for about 30 seconds could help a great deal,” Holmes told the Defender.
Jahmeshia was found Nov. 30 in an alley one block from her home in the Englewood community. The medical examiner’s office said the girl had been strangled to death. Police officials also indicated that she had been raped. She was last seen on Nov. 16 after walking to a bus stop headed home from her aunt’s home, about a half-mile away.
She was reported missing the next day. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children initially labeled the girl a runaway, but later retracted the designation.
The fifth grader was laid to rest Saturday during funeral services held at New Covenant Baptist Church on the South Side. U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-1st, delivered the eulogy.
A$20,000 reward has been offered in Jahmeshia Conner’s case, yet, no leads have been generated, said Police Supt. Jody Weis.
A technical glitch may have prevented her missing persons alert from being sent to the media, police said.
Since the uproar over her death and the non-notification, the police have increased the frequency of issuing missing persons alerts. Since Conner’s death, at least 25 alerts were sent to the media. About onethird of those reported missing have been reunited with their families.
As of Nov. 30, some 7,970 missing persons reports were filed for children ages 16 and under. From January to November 2008, 9,583 reports were filed for the same age group, according to police spokesman Roderick Drew.
Conner “did not die in vain,” Rush said in the eulogy.
While the aldermen’s offices do not receive the alerts from the police, if a flyer is available it will be posted, said two aldermen.
Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) said occasionally someone would bring a missing persons flyer to her office.
“We’ll put them out on the literature table and post it. We do that all the time,” said Preckwinkle.
The chairman of the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee, Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) said: “We already post missing persons flyers in our ward office, and will expand promotion (of) missing persons information from links on our aldermanic Internet site to the Chicago Police Department’s Web site. Further, we will continue to make missing persons reports part of our regular community meetings, to assist in this effort.”
School involvement in a case is a “missing link,” Holmes said.
“If the schools (that) these missing children attend get more involved, it’ll be better all the way around. When they get a flyer they should make sure they’re issued to the students and to the parents, especially those who pick up their children,” the activist said.
Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond said missing juvenile alerts are sent to the school district and immediately sent to the respective schools the students attend.
“Our safety office notifies the schools and each school will take the necessary action. Usually, a school’s first notification of a missing child comes from the parents, not the police,” said Bond.
Holmes added, “We need to cover all the bases so we can get these children away from so much drama they may be encountering in the streets.”