WORKING WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE FAMILIES OF THE MISSING

How To Series – Entering New Cases

MISSING PERSONS

How To Series – Entering New Cases

Quick Tutorial on entering in new cases. If you prepare, it's very easy and you'll be proud of how good your profiles look and perform.

Entering in new cases is very simple.

Follow this quick procedure to get started and over time you will find your own way to achieve the same results.

Being prepared and doing a little research before you start this process will make things much easier.  Remember, only cases filed with law enforcement will be considered for addition to our database, not all submissions are accepted.  There are a number of websites and state clearing houses you can view to find current missing persons cases that have been filed with police.  We will be publishing a directory of state clearing houses to make this task easier, but until then NAMUS is a preferred source of verified cases to submit to us.  There is a link to NAMUS in your sidebar on the right, so you don’t have to ever leave our website to find cases through them, we have connected the data to our site for you.

Volunteers are not authorized to contact law enforcement on our behalf to verify cases, our staff handles those tasks.

Also, be sure to setup a folder on your end to save images of the cases you are entering in our system.  This way after your enter in all of the cases details, you’ll be ready to submit (upload) the photos and or video to the cases.

Valuable quick tips

  • Set up a folder on your computer or device specifically for saving images of the cases you want to enter.
  • Be sure to search or directory before entering in any case to be sure it’s not already profiled.  Our system will not flag your entry and you will have done a lot of work for nothing, so be sure to always search the database first before entering any case.
  • Submit cases from reputable sources that include good descriptions of what led up to the person being reported missing.  It’s not very helpful for site visitors who are actively keeping an eye out in their local area for missing people if they have only, “Jane Doe was last seen leaving work on Tuesday and not been seen or heard from since.”  We need more, so be sure the profiles you are finding or creating have useful information.  Do a little research if you have time.
  • Image quality and size is very important because in order to make the best presentation that can help, we need a couple of good headshots, no filters or silly faces, normal full facial photographs.  If someone has multiple hairstyles, try to provide photos to show what they may look like.  The most recent, the better and the missing persons social media is a good place to search.  Full body pictures are very helpful too.  Minimum photo dimensions are 350×350 pixels.  Larger photos are always better.  However, if you can’t find any the size recommended, we will do our best to edit them to make them useable.
  • Adding video to a profile is very useful, especially any recent clips from mainstream news agencies.  Currently, we have a restriction on using true-crime YouTubers videos since there is no recourse for us if they are stating things that create a liability for us or simply are inaccurate or opinion based. New clips from major news sources or from law enforcement are encourage to be included in your profiles.
  • Links to social media profiles and other accepted organization should be included as well.  In our entry form, be sure to check out the entry fields we have for major social media platforms and also reputable law enforcement agencies.

Time to get started.

Step One
Login to the website (You’ve already done that, one less thing to do already).

Step Two
Go to your “Member Options” menu on the right sidebar of the page.

Step Three
Click on the menu option for “Add Missing Person Case“.

Step Four
Select the category that applies to the missing person.  You can only select one.

Since you’ve prepared yourself before getting started, the rest is very simple.  The cases you enter will be saved in your “My Cases” section of your account.  You can edit them at any time.  If you do edit anything, we will have to verify it before its published, so the profile will be held in moderation for a short time.

If you need assistance, you can ask others in the Volunteer Forums or send us a message and we will gladly assist you.

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