Endangered Missing AJA JOHNSON

Endangered Missing

AJA JOHNSON

DOB: Jan 5, 2003 Missing: Jan 24, 2010 Age Now: 7 Sex: Female Race: White Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Height: 4’0″ (122 cm) Weight: 65 lbs (29 kg) Missing From: GERONIMO OK United States

Aja may be in the company of an adult male relative. They may travel to Davenport or Norman, Oklahoma or to Rockford, Texas. They may be traveling in a white 1992 Toyota Paseo with Oklahoma license plates 577-BPW, similar to the one shown. The vehicle has no hubcaps and a sheet of plastic covers the rear passenger window. CAUTION ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

LESTER HOBBS source: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Comanche County Sheriff’s Office (Oklahoma) 1-580-353-4280 or Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation 1-800-522-8017

30 Days of Justice: KlaasKids

During a slumber party in October of 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted at knifepoint from her California home. For 65 straight days, the hunt persisted for Polly. A mass distribution of 2 billion images of Polly was sent worldwide. She had soon become a symbol of love and lost innocence. Then one December morning, the nation was greeted with the news that Polly Klaas had been murdered. The country was outraged. The public cried out for change in legislation and pro-action in crime prevention. “Polly was faced with a choice few people ever have to make,” said her father, Marc Klaas. “By putting herself in mortal danger to protect her family and friends, Polly has become my greatest teacher.” Marc Klaas immediately dove into a campaign to put children higher on the national priority list. With no prior media, political or public speaking experience, he immediately became savvy in affecting proactive legislation, and sought to advocate children’s issues and speak out on crime prevention.

Within a year the KlaasKids Foundation was formed. KlaasKids exists to help missing and exploited kids across the country. On their informative website, you can find information on how to create and maintain one of the most effective anti-crime and ant-terrorist grass roots programs ever developed, access to Beyond Missing, a revolutionary new Internet destination that provides free poster making and distribution capabilities for missing children, a 27-minute instructional video that educates parents on the steps to take if their children are kidnapped, and so much more. Through KlaasKids, Marc Klaas is helping others not have to experience the loss that he once did.

KlaasKids is also instrumental in ending Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking as well. Did you know there are 300,000 child prostitutes in the U.S.? Working with anti-human trafficking agencies, like the Florida Coalition, and law enforcement, KlaasKids wants to ensure that children are not being exploited in this tragic, yet so prominent, crime. Every day 2300 kids go missing in our country. And 2/3 of them will be lured into sex industry within 48 hours. Those are just a few reasons why organization like KlaasKids is so essential. KlaasKids goes to the streets, armed with information and photos of the missing, to bring these children back to their families safely. With warriors like Marc Klaas, Brad Dennis, and other team members of KlaasKids lives literall are being saved through KlaasKids.

source: http://bindingthebroken.blogspot.com/2010/01/30-days-of-justice-klaaskids.html

Where’s Jessica Foster?

Sex offender indicted in Foxwell kidnapping

A grand jury indicted a 30-year-old dual-state registered sex offender charged in the kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl that was found Christmas day.

Thomas James Leggs, a registered sex offender in Maryland and Delaware, was indicted on burglary and kidnapping charges on Monday according to court records.

Leggs was charged with abducting 11-year-old Sarah Haley Foxwell on Dec. 23 after her family reported her missing that morning.

Police launched a search for the missing Wicomico Middle School student and enlisted the help of more than 3,000 volunteers on Dec. 25. That evening, law enforcement announced that Foxwell’s body had been found by a team of investigators.

Leggs is the sole murder suspect, and the Wicomico County States Attorney’s Office expects to additional charges to be filed within 30 to 45 days.

He is currently being held without bond at the Wicomico County Detention Center. He has been isolated from other inmates at the jail, according to police.

source: http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100111/NEWS01/100111028/-1/newsfront2

What to do in a catastrophe

In Buddhism, we have several practices to help ease the pain and suffering of others.

They are called things like Tonglen, and Maitri, and Lovingkindness.

In all of these practices, one places one’s awareness and thought and heartfelt feeling on another person and their situation.

We imagine the details of what they are going through and try and really feel it, and then send them our own sense of well-being.

As best as we can, we close the gap of emotional distancing inside ourselves that we often create to make ourselves feel safe or protected or to maintain our good mood.

We aren’t afraid to maybe not feel so chipper in the light of the often massive scale of the kind of suffering others have to go through on a daily basis who live in the realms of the world where poverty, sex trafficking, genocide, war and natural disasters take place.

The point is not to be overwhelmed. The point is to let your heart really genuinely break for the specifics of other sentient beings conditions.

To feel deeply for others and send them our wish for their suffering to cease, is a natural aspect our our good human heart/minds.

This moment of castrophe in Haiti gives us that opportunity.

As Nicholas Kristoff tweeted this morning, “Today we are all Haiti.”

source: http://binduwiles.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/what-to-do-in-a-castrophe/

Jennifer Kesse “Beacon of Hope for the Missing” January 23, 2010

Jennifer Kesse was abducted from her Orlando condo on Tuesday, January 24, 2006. The Kesse’s, their family and Jenn’s friends will mark the four year mark on Saturday, January 23, 2010 for the Jennifer Kesse “Beacon of Hope for the Missing” which will include Free Fingerprinting/ID for All Ages, a Blood Drive to give the gift of life in Jennifer’s honor, free face painting, personal safety information, Search & Rescue Teams with full equipment, Crimeline, Fire Engine, Bikers Against Child Abuse, Stop Child Trafficking, Child Abduction Response Team, and much more!

This year the Kesse’s made a big announcement that the REWARD for Jennifer’s safe return is $1 Million which expires on February 24, 2010. It brought Jenn’s story into the media spotlight once again and hopefully will encourage anyone who knows anything to come forward.

You don’t need to be at the event the entire time; just come to say HI and show your support. Kids, wives, husbands etc. are all invited.

Please pass this invite to everyone you know. Awareness is key, whether she’s been missing four days or four years. We will never give up our hopes of finding Jennifer.

From Jennifer’s family:

To Jennifer; Know that your family loves you- unconditionally. Your friends love you and a lot of people who you never met love you and care about you. Know we will not stop fighting to find you in every way we know how until you are with us again. Please know how much we are desperately trying to find you and will.

Drew, Joyce & Logan Kesse

View Bulletin on Facebook |Go to Cause

source: http://webmail.aol.com/

Binational Film Fest: Indie films grace El Paso, Juarez

In film, �independent� technically refers to a film produced outside of a major studio. More loosely, however, an independent film is one that�s unconventional, eccentric, avant-garde and sometimes groundbreaking.

Many of the most notable films of the last decade were created without major studio financing. �The Passion of the Christ,� �Crash,� �Juno� and �Slumdog Millionaire� were influential and significant to the movie industry as a whole � not just the indie scene. Organizers of the 10th annual Binational Independent Film Festival hope that the movies they have selected to screen this year will have a strong showing as well.

�The films we are going to show are different from anything you have seen,� says Cesar Alejandro, film festival organizer and president of Alexandria Films. �They are brand new on the indie scene and do not follow your typical Hollywood formula.�

The film fest attracted more than 5,000 attendees last year alone. Organizers hope for 6,500 this year. Screenings will take place in El Paso at the UTEP Union Cinema and in Juarez at the Centro Cultural Paso del Norte.

�A film festival is something that occurs seldom in El Paso,� Alejandro says. �After each feature, the audience will have a chance to engage with and put questions forth to directors, actors and producers. We have a wide variety of films this year from drama to comedy and even animation.�

Films slated to compete for honors like Best Feature and Best Screenplay hail from a variety of locations, including the U.S., Mexico, Canada and even South Africa.

One of this year�s most buzzed-about films, the Canadian thriller �Sweet Karma,� sheds sinister light on human sex trafficking. The film follows a young mute Russian woman, Karma, who finds that her sister was sold into sexual slavery and found dead outside Toronto. Karma sets out for revenge. After the showing on Tuesday will be a talk with producer James Fler and director Andrew Thomas Hunt.

For lighter fare, the following night will showcase the U.S. premiere of the Mexican film �Conozca la Cabeza de Juan P�rez.� The comedic debut feature of writer/director Emilio Portes is a tale told by the severed head of Juan Perez about how he reached his fate. The story playfully juxtaposes its grim story line with humor and wit to produce a unique approach to guillotine-related film. Following the film will be a talk with Silverio Palacios, the actor who plays the film�s title character.

Another film, �The Last Survivor,� has critics buzzing about its potential during awards show season.

�I really think it may be nominated for an Oscar� Alejandro says.

The U.S. documentary, which will be shown on Thursday, Jan. 14, interviews survivors of genocide conflicts and the after effects of their struggle. The feature follows their stories as they try to spread understanding about mass tragedies and to promote peace through educational awareness and civic engagement.

Another highlight of the festival is a presentation on Friday of a lifetime achievement award for American playwright, writer and film director Luiz Valdez. His impressive credentials include writing and directing both �Zoot Suit� and �La Bamba.� Valdez, often referred to as the father of Chicano theater, marched with Cesar Chavez and is revered by many as an idol.

�He really is an icon of the Chicano movement,� Alejandro says. �We are so proud to be able to celebrate his life and accomplishments at the 10th anniversary of our film festival.�

El Paso Showings
Binational Independent
Film Festival
January 8-16

El Paso showings
(all at the UTEP Union Cinema)

Friday, Jan. 8
7 p.m. feature: �Zoot Suit� (U.S.)

Talk with director/writer Luiz Valdez and singer/actor Little Joe

Sat., Jan. 9
4 p.m. short: �A Day Without a Mexican�

7 p.m. feature: �Last Lullaby� (U.S.)

Both films followed by talks with writer/director/producer Sergio Arau

Sunday, Jan. 10
4 p.m. doc: �Intimidades� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Norteado� (Mexico)

Monday, Jan. 11
4 p.m. doc: �Siete Instantes� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Naco es Chido� (Mexico)

Talk with director Jeff Scheftel

Tuesday, Jan. 12
4 p.m. doc: �Rehje� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Sweet Karma� (Canada)

Talk with producer James Fler and director Andrew Thomas Hunt

Wed., Jan. 13
4 p.m. doc: �Dance with the Devil� (U.S.)

Talk with director Zalman King

7 p.m. feature: �Conozca la Cabeza de Juan Perez� (Mexico)

Talk with actor Silverio Palacios

Thur., Jan. 14
4 p.m. doc: �The Last Survivor� (U.S.)

Talk with director/writer/producer Jeff Scheftel

7 p.m. feature �Finding Lenny� (South Africa)

Talk with Arturo Chavez

Fri., Jan. 15
4 p.m. �Abrir para Cerrar Celdas� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Espiral� (Mexico)

Sat., Jan. 16
4 p.m. doc: �Tijuaneados An�nimos� (Mexico)

Talk with actor Rafael Incl�n

7 p.m. feature: �Dixie Dynamite� (U.S.)

Talk with producer/director Bob Clark

All 4 p.m. showings free

All 7 p.m. features $4

Juarez Showings
Binational Film Independent Film Festival
January 8-16

Juarez showings
(all at the Centro Cultural Paso del Norte)

Saturday, Jan. 9
4 p.m. doc: �Rehje� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Naco es Chido� (Mexico)

Sunday, Jan. 10
4 p.m. �A Day Without a Mexican� (Mexico)

7 p.m. �Vaho� (Mexico)

Monday, Jan. 11
4 p.m. doc: �Flores para el Soldado� (Mexico)

7 p.m.: �Finding Lenny� (South Africa)

Tuesday, Jan. 12
4 p.m. doc: �Tijuaneados An�nimos� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Nesio� (Mexico)

Wednesday, Jan. 13
4 p.m. doc: �El Viaje del Cometa� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Sweet Karma� (Canada)

Thursday, Jan. 14
4 p.m. feature: Talk on �Conozca la Cabeza de Juan Perez� (Mexico) by actor Silverio Palacios

7 p.m. feature: �Conozca la Cabeza de Juan Perez� (Mexico)

Friday, Jan. 15
4 p.m. doc: �Siete Instantes� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Espiral� (Mexico)

Saturday, Jan. 16
4 p.m. doc: �Abrir Aulas para Cerrar Celdas� (Mexico)

7 p.m. feature: �Intimidades� (Mexico)

source: http://www.whatsuppub.com/showArticle.asp?articleId=8455

Missing Sarah Rogers

BARRINGTON — Police hope the public can help provide information on the whereabouts of a local woman who has been missing since Dec. 13.

Sarah Rogers, 29, who goes by the alias Marla Moon, was last seen in town on Dec. 13, according to police officer Toby Perry.

Her family contacted police on that date and expressed concerns about her whereabouts. There is no indication she is in any immediate danger, but Perry said police hope the public can assist in making sure Rogers is OK.

“We have no idea where she is,” Perry said. He said police have followed some leads and her vehicle was found in Clinton, Maine, near Waterville. Her car had gone off the road on Interstate 95 and Perry said there were tire tracks at the scene indicating she may have gotten into another vehicle that headed south on I-95.

He stressed that, as a 29-year-old, Rogers has no obligation to keep her family abreast of her whereabouts. Family and police simply want to make sure she is safe, he said, adding Rogers is welcome to call police herself to confirm her condition.

Perry could not say what the circumstances were leading up to her disappearance.

Rogers is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 110 pounds with blonde hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information that may assist police in this investigation is asked to call Barrington police at 603-664-2700.
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If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.
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Re: Missing Woman: Sarah Rogers–NH–12/13/2009
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2009, 07:11:21 PM »
ReplyReply
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Missing+NH+woman+sought%3B+car+found+in+Maine&articleId=97980801-ff4d-419f-b00c-0bb41129a137

Missing NH woman sought; car found in Maine
12/29/2009

BARRINGTON – Police here and in Maine are searching for a woman who family members reported missing more than two weeks ago.

Sarah Rogers, 29, was last seen by her husband the morning of Dec. 13 when she left their house off of Route 4, Barrington police officer Toby Perry said Tuesday.

“Since then she hasn’t been seen or heard from again,” he said.

Her car, a Scion xB, was found later that night in Clinton, Maine after it apparently went off the left side of Interstate 95 northbound amid snow, Perry said. It’s unclear where she was going and whether she may have been passing through Clinton.

Tracks from the car led across the highway’s median to the southbound lanes, Perry said, and police believe she may have caught a ride from a passing motorist. The car was not damaged and has since been towed to her house in Barrington.

Rogers, who has gone by the alias Marla Moon in the past, has not contacted any family since Dec. 13 and there has been no activity on her credit and bank cards, Perry said. She was reported missing the same day she left home, he said.

Perry was vague about the circumstances of Rogers’ disappearance and what happened just before she left, other than that there were “underlying issues.”

“Her family is just trying to make sure she’s safe,” he said, noting she has a husband and a young child.

Clinton, Maine police officer Jeff Belanger said Tuesday that authorities there are also searching for Rogers, but so far have no leads.

“We don’t know anybody here that she may have known,” he said.

Belanger said police do not suspect foul play.

Rogers is described as 5-foot-8, weighing 110 lbs. with blond hair and hazel eyes. A photo of her is below.

Anyone with information is asked to call Barrington police at 603-664-2700.
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http://www.projectjason.org
Help us for free when you shop online or do a websearch:
http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=857029

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member
http://www.projectjason.org/awareness.shtml

If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.
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Re: Missing Woman: Sarah Rogers–NH–12/13/2009
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2009, 09:47:41 AM »
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http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091231/GJNEWS_01/712319783/-1/FOSNEWS

No new developments in case of missing Barrington woman

By Joey Cresta Thursday, December 31, 2009

BARRINGTON — Police say there are no new developments in the disappearance of a 29-year-old local woman.

Officer Toby Perry said the only call the department has received regarding the disappearance of Sarah Rogers was from “Good Morning America.” Rogers was reported missing on Dec. 13 by her husband, Perry said.

Rogers and her husband have a child and live off Route 4, Perry said. He would not comment on the circumstances leading up to her disappearance. He also would not identify her husband.

Her car, a Scion xB, was located the night of her disappearance on Interstate 95 in Clinton, Maine. It had gone off the road while heading north. There were footprints in the snow suggesting Rogers crossed the median toward the southbound lane.

From there, Perry said it would be “complete speculation” where she went. She may have gotten into another vehicle or could have headed into the nearby woods, he said. “There’s no particular reason why her car was up there,” Perry said.

Police have checked into Rogers’ credit cards and bank account, but there has been no recent activity on those, Perry said. She also did not bring her cell phone with her when she left on Dec. 13, he said.

Perry said police do not consider her disappearance suspicious. He said they would have to receive more evidence before considering foul play. He said that, though most people “don’t even buy a coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts” with cash anymore, she may have some money on her that she has been using.

Rogers’ husband told police that she once went by the alias Marla Moon. Perry had no further information about that alias or where she might have used it.

Anyone who has information on Rogers’ whereabouts is asked to call Barrington police at 664-7679.

source: http://projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=7677.0

ROBERT PICKTON: THE VANCOUVER MISSING WOMEN

Robert-William-(Willie) Pickton

David-Francis-Pickton

Late in 1998, task force detectives got their best lead yet from 37-year-old Bill Hiscox. Widowed two years earlier, Hiscox had turned to drugs and alcohol after his wife died, rescued from the downhill slide when his foster sister found him a job at P&B Salvage in Surrey, southeast of Vancouver. The proprietors were Robert William “Willie” Pickton and his brother David, of Port Coquitlam. Hiscox’s helpful relative was Robert Pickton’s “off-and-on” girlfriend in 1997, and Hiscox picked up his paychecks at the brothers’ Port Coquitlam pig farm, described by Hiscox as “a creepy-looking place” patrolled by a vicious 600-pound boar. “I never saw a pig like that, who would chase you and bite at you,” he told police. “It was running out with the dogs around the property.”

Hiscox had grown concerned about the Picktons after reading newspaper reports on Vancouver’s missing women. Robert Pickton was “a pretty quiet guy, hard to strike up a conversation with, but I don’t think he had much use for men.” Pickton drove a converted bus with deeply tinted windows, Hiscox told authorities. “It was Willie’s pride and joy,” he said, “and he wouldn’t part with it for anything. Willie used it a lot.” The brothers also ran a supposed charity, the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, registered with the Canadian government in 1996 as a non-profit society intended to “organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups.” According to Hiscox, the “special events” convened at Piggy Palace–a converted building at the hog farm–were drunken raves that featured “entertainment” by an ever-changing cast of Downtown Eastside prostitutes.

Police were already familiar with the Pickton brothers. David Francis Pickton had been convicted of sexual assault in 1992, fined $1,000 and given 30 days’ probation. His victim in that case told police Pickton had attacker her in his trailer, at the pig farm, but she managed to escape when a third party came in and distracted him. Port Coquitlam authorities sought an order to destroy one of David’s dogs in April 1998, under the Livestock Protection Act, but the proceedings were later dismissed without explanation. Pickton had also been sued three times for damages, resulting from traffic accidents in 1988 and 1991, settling all three claims out of court.

Soon after Piggy Palace opened, the Pickton brothers and their sister, Linda Louise Wright, found themselves in court again, sued Port Coquitlam officials for allegedly violating city zoning ordinances. According to the complaint, their property was zoned for agricultural use, but they had “altered a large farm building on the land for the purpose of holding dances, concerts and other recreations” that sometimes drew as many as 1,800 persons. Following a New Year’s Eve party on December 31, 1998, the Picktons were slapped with an injunction banning future parties, the court order noting that police were henceforth “authorized to arrest and remove any person” attending public events at the farm. The “society” finally lost its nonprofit status in January 2000, for failure to provide mandatory financial statements.

Other charges filed against Robert Pickton were more serious. In March 1997 he was charged with the attempted murder of a drug-addicted prostitute, Wendy Lynn Eistetter, whom he stabbed several times in a wild melee at the pig farm. Eistetter told police that Pickton handcuffed and attacked her on March 23, but that she escaped after disarming him and stabbing him with his own knife. A motorist found Eistetter beside the highway at 1:45 a.m. and took her to the nearest emergency room, while Pickton sought treatment for a single stab wound at Eagle Ridge Hospital. He was released on $2,000 bond, but the charge was later dismissed without explanation in January 1998.

The stabbing had crystallized Bill Hiscox’s suspicion about Robert Pickton, whom he called “quite a strange character.” Aside from the assault, Hiscox told police, there were “all the girls that are going missing, and all the purses and Ids that are out there in his trailer and stuff.” Pickton, Hiscox told detectives, “frequents the downtown area all the time, for girls.”

Police recorded Hiscox’s statement and a detective accompanied him to the pig farm, afterward vowing “to push the higher-ups, all the way to the top, to investigate.” Subsequent press reports indicate that the farm was searched three times, apparently without result. The brothers would remain on file, “persons of interest” to the inquiry, but no surveillance would be mounted on the farm.

Back in Vancouver, meanwhile, the list of missing women grew longer, with no end in sight.

source: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/robert_pickton/6.html?print=yes

Legislators Work to Improve Laws on Runaways

Francisco Hernandez Jr. rode New York’s subways for two days before his name was entered in a database for missing children. State and federal lawmakers from around the country are pressing a variety of new laws that would make sweeping changes in the way runaways and prostituted children are handled by police officers and social workers.

In Congress, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are moving several bills that would improve how runaways are tracked by the police, increase spending to provide them with social services and promote methods for earlier intervention. The Government Accountability Office, an auditing arm of Congress, initiated an investigation in December at the request of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, and Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, into whether police departments are handling runaways properly.

Lawmakers in at least 10 states have proposed or passed bills in recent months that focus on runaways by extending outreach efforts and shelter options and changing state reporting requirements so that youth shelters have enough time to win trust and provide services before they need to report the runaways to the police.

Police departments are already required by federal law to enter missing-person reports into a database called the National Crime Information Center, or N.C.I.C., within two hours of receiving them. When the local police fail to do this, law enforcement officials in other jurisdictions do not know to look for the missing person.

But data provided by the national center to The New York Times indicates that the police often do not comply with this requirement. Lawmakers say a series of articles published in The Times in October about the increase in runaway children and teenagers involved in prostitution because of the recession, showing how many cases are not being properly tracked by police departments, has prompted much of the legislation.

From November 2006 through November 2009, the police in New York City failed in about 40 percent of cases to enter missing-person reports into the database for runaways within 24 hours of receiving the report, according to a review of cases reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The national average during that period was around 16 percent.

One such case involved Francisco Hernandez Jr., a 13-year-old with a form of autism known as Asperger’s syndrome, who ran away from home and, undetected, spent 11 days riding subways in New York City.

Though Francisco’s parents said they did not feel the police had taken their son’s case seriously, department officials said they had investigated it properly.

But the N.C.I.C.’s data indicated that the department did not enter Francisco’s missing-person report into the federal database for at least 24 hours after his parents made it.

Paul J. Browne, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, said Francisco’s report was not entered into the national database when it was received because the person with that duty was not available. Mr. Browne said another police official entered the information on Saturday, Oct. 17, two days after Francisco went missing, and he noted that the department had broadcast news of the missing child on its citywide radio system a day earlier.

Mr. Browne said he was not sure why his department had such high noncompliance numbers with the national database, but said the police took extensive steps to alert the full department and local hospitals when missing-person reports were filed.

Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, said the reporting failures were “outrageous.”

“It’s absolutely inappropriate that many runaway children are missing not only from their homes, but also from the very database meant to help law enforcement officers find them,” Ms. Maloney said. She and Representative Christopher H. Smith, Republican of New Jersey, introduced legislation on Nov. 19 to certify that law enforcement agencies comply with federal law by entering all missing children into the federal database.

The bill, co-sponsored by Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, also requires the police to provide anyone who reports a missing person with information about the services provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Runaway Switchboard. In many cases, the police said, they often did not take reports about runaways as seriously as abductions, and families were often unaware of other resources.

Mr. Schumer said he planned to introduce a similar bill soon in the Senate, which instructs the Justice Department to perform audits of local law enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with reporting requirements.

At the same time, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, introduced legislation in December that is modeled after the methods used by the Dallas Police Department in tracking down repeat runaways, which has been successful in reducing teenage prostitution. The bill adjusts the national database so that it automatically flags repeat runaways, much as the Dallas police have been doing.

The bill would also create block grants worth $2.5 million annually, renewable for two more years, that would be allocated to six pilot programs to provide shelter and services like drug treatment, counseling and job training for teenagers seeking to escape prostitution.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, introduced a bill in November that would enable school officials to pay for transportation of runaways and homeless youths who want to stay in school. The bill would increase, to $300 million from $70 million, federal money for other services for homeless and runaway youths.

State lawmakers in Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, Pennsylvania and North Dakota are considering bills to improve tracking and services for runaways and minors who are victims of sex trafficking. Washington and Iowa are considering bills to lengthen the time before welfare workers are required to report a child missing. Illinois and Rhode Island have passed laws, and Massachusetts has proposed one raising penalties for involvement in the sex trafficking of minors.

Hoping to build on this momentum, the National Conference of State Legislatures began drafting policy guidelines for model legislation on runaways in November to distribute to state lawmakers around the country.

The guidelines, which await final approval by the conference in July, would require teachers, social workers and others who work with children to report to the state child welfare agency any youth believed to be involved in prostitution, according to State Senator Renee Unterman of Georgia, a Republican who drafted the guidelines and is the chairwoman of the conference’s committee on human welfare.

The American Bar Association has also begun changing its policy guidelines so that it can lobby Congress for increased financing for tracking runaways and providing them with social services. Association leaders say they hope to urge Congress to pass a law preventing minors from being charged with a crime — prostitution — that they are too young to consent to.

“The number of these kids keeps increasing, services for them keep decreasing and tracking of them is totally insufficient,” said Casey Trupin, a professor at the University of Washington law school who helped write the new guidelines. “We figured it was time to get involved because arresting and charging these youth is not helping them escape the streets.”

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/us/04runaways.html?pagewanted=print