Family members of missing persons throughout Virginia appeared before the State Crime Commission today to discuss ways to enhance the search and rescue process. Alexis Murphy’s aunt Trina and Morgan Harrington’s mother Gil were both present, and they believe the Commonwealth can make specific improvements to help better facilitate search and rescue efforts in abduction cases.
Both women told the State Crime Commission that they made mistakes that may have hindered investigations in their family members’ disappearances. But they also say the lack of communication and coordination by investigators compounded the problem and made their ordeals even more stressful. Harrington says that's where improved coordination, a statewide standard search and rescue template, and more efficient use of resources would help.
"I think it helps efficient utilization of the resources that are hand. One county may have some great trained dogs or a great investigator and two counties over they don't, so if these resources can be pooled in a registry and utilized and shared in a collaborative way. Standardization also, I think it increases accountability so people's performance improves."
She also says while there are "Amber Alerts" for children and "Senior Alerts" for the elderly, there’s no system for immediately notifying the public when a person within other age groups is abducted. But thanks to recent legislation, police departments can no longer observe waiting periods before accepting a critically missing adult report.
