How one MWCC student is helping to find missing people
By Dylan Quigley
Observer Contributor
NamUs claims that over 600,000 people are reported missing a year in the US even though most are closed tens of thousands of people are never found. Police departments are overwhelmed as it is and to constantly be looking for missing persons is not always possible; especially in heavily populated areas with other problems that need the attention of the police. One may ask if there isn’t something concerned citizens could do? Well with the ever-growing reach of social media maybe there is something we can do.
Helena Carter who earned her paralegal certificate in December of 2019 and is now working on an associate’s degree in legal studies at MWCC also thought of this and in 2009 she started a Facebook page called Massachusetts Missing. She posts missing person fliers on the page and updates each case when it’s needed.
Carter has gotten shares from all over the country and even aided in the reunion of some loved ones. For example, a father reached out when his twins went missing due to a custodial kidnapping and through shares on the page the twins were found and returned safely to their father who still credits the page to this day.
Carter focuses on people from MA. that go missing, and family members or friends of the missing person usually contact Carter to make the Facebook post. As the post is shared and reposted, it reaches more and more people, and if someone thinks they may have seen the missing person, authorities are notified. Something that Carter does is take missing person reports concerning drug addicted missing persons, in many cases police will not take these reports.
Although the page is shared throughout the country it is usually former MA. residents who are sharing the page in other states. Carter claimed that if every state had its own missing persons page, the outreach would be far greater than what her page can do. She continued that yes there are national databases but there is so many cases that a state by state database would be more effective. Carter also said that these databases need to be updated on the closing of cases; as of now there is not really a way to tell who is being found and sometimes missing person posts are still being shared even though the person has come home.
Carter explained that most missing person cases do have a positive outcome but for the ones that do not get closed more could be done. To help with missing persons cases Carters dream is to get Massachusetts Missing into its own building with a centralized database that updates each case when the person is found or not. The link to Carters Facebook page is facebook.com/brockton.masspmc/ and for cases that are out of state go to missingkids.com as that is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
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