Below are several quotes from a sobering but important article published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2003. This is a very lengthy article that was originally published in 10 parts. You can find all of them at this link which starts with the first part of the article, and remaining parts are linked in order below. Quite a bit of the article is about serial killers and identifying remains, but much in the beginning is about the difficulty getting law enforcement to take missing person's reports seriously.
Note that in the article, when they say "the P-I" they mean the Post-Intelligencer, not private investigator.
The article specifically investigates cases in Washington state, but the article details problems with nationwide databases and records, so I see no reason to think the problems are confined within the borders of one state.
Some choice quotes, all from the first two parts of the article:
Because of a lack of knowledge, indifference or poor training, police officers in Washington state -- and around the nation -- routinely fail to take even the most obvious steps, conduct routine follow-ups or comply with the law when handling missing-persons cases, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer found in a yearlong investigation.
"If people knew how little was done with missing-persons cases, they'd scream," said Gary Bell, forensic dentist for the Washington State Patrol's Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit.
Police consider missing-person cases a low priority, and there's no real penalty if they let them slide.
"Police departments hate missing-persons reports because they tend to be a pain in the butt," [Detective Tom Jensen, a longtime Green River Task Force member] explained. "Detectives will look for ways to dump cases so they don't have to do the follow-up work."
The P-I article describes specific problems of missing persons ignored who later turn out to be victims of serial killers:
...detectives often were overly eager to close cases on rumor or hearsay without confirming whether a missing person was really alive and well. Four women believed to be victims of the Green River Killer -- Gail Mathews, Andrea Childers, Mary Bello and Tammy Liles -- had been reported missing to various police departments. Yet their cases had been closed on the basis of unconfirmed sightings or rumors that they were alive. Investigators later learned the reports could not have been true -- the women had long been dead.
The problem of balancing respect for an adult's privacy and the possibility of foul play:
...small children don't disappear on their own. Adults are a different story. They can go and do what they please, and it's no crime if someone isn't where someone else thought they should be.
They also know, from past experience, that few missing people are victims of foul play.
In each of the past five years, the FBI reported that for every new missing-person case on the books, more than one was resolved. In 2001, for example, 841,266 cases were reported to the FBI, but 861,918 were cleared, reflecting closure of old cases.
Experts agree the number of missing adults reported each year -- almost 200,000 in 2001 -- is low because local police routinely take a wait-and-see approach. It's a matter of cost-effectiveness, they say.
"When you look at your midsize and smaller departments, probably none of them have a missing-persons unit," said Bremerton Police Capt. Craig Rogers. "With our resources, we have to make decisions on priorities and, obviously, crimes of violence are going to take top priority.
"So, when you get a missing-persons report with no obvious sign of foul play, it's probably not going to get the attention. You'd like to investigate every case, but you have to strike a balance."
---
A missing-person report is not a crime report. Nor does filing a report mean that anyone will go looking for the subject -- there's no law that says adults have to be where someone thinks they should be.
The report is a tripwire to alert police of a possible crime, and in many cases it is a way to reach across time and distance to identify any human remains that might turn up years later, hundreds of miles away.
The P-I article continues, saying that even when foul play is indicated, cases are ignored:
Through hundreds of interviews and analysis of hundreds of police reports and information in three state computer databases, the P-I found that police statewide routinely botch or ignore missing-person cases, even when there are ample indications of foul play. As a result, families have been left with unanswered questions, countless dead have been buried without a name and killers have been allowed to roam free.
This particular quote made me cringe (bolded by me):
"I don't think any law enforcement agency is going to dedicate those kind of resources to track down each and every missing person" without signs of a crime, said Bremerton Police Capt. Craig Rogers.
When asked about open cases, Rogers said: "Is it possible that some of these cases might end up with foul play involved? Anything's possible."
Sound familiar?
"If there was credible evidence to show us that we would focus on criminal activity here, perhaps we would have moved a quicker on some of these things," said Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond.
In an interview Wednesday, Hammond told Channel 3 this is still a missing persons case.
"I've seen cases strange enough where you would just swear somebody was dead to foul play and they do turn up, even years later," said Hammond, "so you can't discount that."
Gail Nowacki Palmgren was last seen on April 30 at about 12:15 p.m. while driving away from her home in Signal Mountain, Tennessee. She was driving a darker red (Red Rock Crystal Pearl) Jeep Rubicon with a Goofy tire hitch, a personalized Alabama plate that says "EAZY ST," and a black tire cover with a blue daisy and "Life Is Good" printed on it. Gail is 5 feet 8 inches, 135 pounds, blonde hair and brown eyes. If you have seen Gail or her Jeep, contact Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at 423-209-8940 or call your local police. If someone may be in danger, call 911.
