PEACE4 THE MISSING: Voice Platform and Support Network for Families of Missing and Victims of Crime.*Headquarters of NamUs Victim Advocates. *Command Central for the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law)* http://peace4missing.ning.com
Note: This is the Federal Law not the Connecticut State Law! This law benfits the nation!
ON THE ROAD TO PASSING BILLY’s LAW in the 112th Congress! YOUR help is needed!!!
On March 31, 2011 Billy’s Law HR 1300 / SR 702 was reintroduced in the House. Orginally introduced in the 111th Congress it has now been reintroduced in the 112th Congress thus the new bill numbers, HR 1300 / SR 702.
When one Congress ends it wipes the slate clean so all actions taken before the Congress ended in January 2011 under the 111th Congress now need to be redone.
This includes seeking cosponsorship and signing petitions all had to be restarted when the 111th Congress ended.
Much work is needed and needed quickly. We need everyone’s help to be successful from families of the missing, advocates, concerned citizens to the general public.
Need Accomplished ASAP all below items:
Write an Impact Letterto be used for requesting co-sponsorship (see template and example at bottom of this blog.)
Write, phone or email your Senators and Congressmenand ask for their co-sponsorship:
POST EVERYWHERE!Ask your friends, family and basically everyone to contact their Congressmen and Senators and request their co-sponsorship. Post the following links on all websites and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn status:http://peace4missing.ning.com
Send out Press Releases toyour local newstations, newspapers and radio stations educating them on Billy’s Law and inviting the readers/listeners to seek co-sponsors from their Congressmen and Senators.
On behalf of the entire team here at Peace4 the Missing (Team Billy’s Law), we really appreciate your support and your hard work to make the road smoother for all families of the missing, both present and future. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Template for letter to Congress – IMAPCT LETER
[your name]
[your mailing address]
[date]
Re: “Billy’s Law” (H.R. 1300 & S.R. 702)
To the Members of the 112thCongress:
[1 – one sentence subject with call to action – why are you writing]
[2 – the issue]
[3 – the solution = Billy’s Law]
[4 – why this issue matters to you]
[5 – call to action: co-sponsor “Billy’s Law”]
Respectfully submitted,
*your signature, in blue ink, goes above your printed name
[print your name]
EXAMPLE of IMPACT Letter:
May 18, 2011 [INSERT TODAY’s DATE]
To: Members of the 112th Congress: From: Maureen Reintjes [DELETE Maureen’s name and Insert your First and Last Name here.] Victims Advocate for the Families of the Missing [Delete Victims Advocate….and Insert your title related to the missing, such as, Family of a Missing Loved One, Concerned Citizen, Law Enforcement, PI, Organization affilliation, etc.]
Re: H.R. 1300 and S.R. 702, the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy’s Law).
[Please insert your own personal information here and delete the following bolded text.]As a person who had a loved one missing for 4 years and now as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) Victims Advocate Team KansasI am asking that when this extraordinary legislation comes before you that you make a choice to stand behind the families of the missing by supporting, co-sponsoring and passing the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law).
There are over 100,000 missing in our great country and anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 unidentified remains of people all over this country. Sad isn't it that we can't even come up with an accurate count? Those numbers by themselves should get your attention. But have you stopped to think about how many lives are forever changed when a loved one is missing? 1/2 million plus US citizens get up every morning and go to sleep every night living this nightmare, many for decades. If 1/2 million people were suffering from the flu you would sit up and take notice, wouldn't you? It would be an epidemic. These numbers are at an epidemic level that no one in this country is immune to. The government has rushed in and helped far less numbers of citizens in times of national disasters, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fires, etc. The missing and the unidentified and the impact on their families and friends is a national disaster. This can happen to anyone's family, anyone.
Do you know how many people are missing in your state? Do you know where to turn to get ALL those numbers and see those faces? Do you know how many unidentified remains are in your state? Do your fellow state residents know where to get these numbers and view these cases? People missing and unidentified remains are a concern forpublic safety and homeland security. When you don’t know why a person is missing then they could have been murdered, are being exploited or something criminal happened to them or by them. When a missing person case is not solved or an unidentified person case is not solved then it is highly likely that criminals/murderers/terrorists walk among us unpunished.Doesn't it make sense to do all you can do to strengthen NamUs so the data is all housed in one clearinghouse, one repository for both the missing and the unidentified remains so that cases can be solved quicker, families given answers quicker and the public protected quicker? Doesn’t it make sense to strengthen NamUs so that Law Enforcement, Coroners, Medical Examiners, the Families of the Missing, the Media and the Public can all have access to one repository to aid in collaboration between all entities of solving these cases? Connect this disconnected system and more families of the missing will get their answers. And, for those families yet to come they will have the hope of a much quicker answer than ever before once Billy’s Law is law. You can make that happen. Please for the families of the missing and for the safety of this country please cosponsorHR 1300 / SR 702, Billy's Law.
Thank you for your time and your service to our country.
[Your signature in blue ink, here.]
Maureen Reintjes [Insert your First and Last Name here, delete Maureen’s name.]
[Insert your Street Address – Mandatory for validation.]
[Insert your City, State Zip Code – Mandatory for validation.]
Fox Valley Technical College Responding to Missing and Unidentified Persons National Training Conference - Scholarship Recipient (Feb 2011):http://www.fvtc.edu/missing
The bulleted points above are my signature tag line. It helps to show who you are affilated with. For families of the missing you might consider including info such as your missing loved ones name and a link to his/her NamUs file. And, include any valid non profit missing person organizations you are a part of or volunteer for. [DELETE the bulleted text and Insert your own info.]
Bill Summary & Status 112th Congress (2011 - 2012): H.R.1300 (Checkhttp://www.thomas.govand search on the bill number HR 1300 or SR 702 for current legislative updates.)
H.R.1300| Latest Title: Billy's Law | Sponsor: Rep Murphy, Christopher S. [CT-5] (introduced 3/31/2011) | Cosponsors : Rep Poe, Ted [TX-2] - 3/31/2011 | Related Bills: S.702 | Latest Major Action: 3/31/2011 Referred to House committee. |Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.SUMMARY AS OF:3/31/2011--Introduced. Billy's Law or the Help Find the Missing Act - Authorizes the Attorney General to maintain public databases, known as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or NamUs, to contain missing persons records and unidentified remains cases to assist in identifying missing people and solve cases of unidentified human remains. (Transfers to such System all functions, personnel, assets, liabilities, and administrative actions applicable to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System carried out by the National Institute of Justice before enactment of this Act.) Directs the Attorney General to: (1) provide for the sharing of information on missing persons and unidentified human remains contained in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) missing and unidentified person database and the NamUs database; (2) update the online data entry format for such databases to allow states to report information to each database; (3) establish a matching grant program to assist in the reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains information to the NCIC and NamUs databases; (4) issue a report to the offices of medical examiners, offices of coroners, and federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies describing the best practices for collecting, reporting, and analyzing data and information on missing persons and unidentified human remains; and (5) report to Congress on the status of the NCIC Missing and Unidentified Person File and NamUs databases. Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require reports of missing children (under age 21) to NamUs databases. Allows authorized agencies to remove or override information from the NamUs and NCIC databases if such information is submitted on behalf of a public user and is deemed to be inaccurate. TITLE(S): (italics indicate a title for a portion of a bill): SHORT TITLE(S) AS INTRODUCED: Billy's Law | Help Find the Missing Act | OFFICIAL TITLE AS INTRODUCED:To authorize funding for, and increase accessibility to, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, to facilitate data sharing between such system and the National Crime Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to provide incentive grants to help facilitate reporting to such systems, and for other purposes.
Thanks to all the many supporters helping spread the word about NamUs - legislative efforts are currently underway to further strengthen and utilize the NamUs system through Billy's Law, The Help Find the Missing Act ...
We finally have the opportunity to somewhat lessen the horror so many families with missing loved ones are forced to endure ... let's not let it pass us by -
Help Pass Billy's Law today!! http://peace4missing.ning.com/forum/topics/on-the-road-to-passing-billys. -
Billy's Law online petition - http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-congress-to-pass-billys-law-to-help-identify-the-missing
"Billy's Law" sits in two pieces in Congress: H.R. 1300 and S.R. 702. And that's how our nation's databases sit, disconnected, in the forms of the Department of Justice "NaMUs" database and the FBI's "Missing Persons Database." Pass the Bills into law and you'll connect the databases to help find those who have gone missing and those who are "unidentified" remains.
Billy's Law passed the House last term in 2010, but never left the Senate Judiciary Committee. This legislation was recently reintroduced.
Our goal is to bring the voice of The People to The Hill on behalf of the missing.
We bring this Petition on behalf of our classmate and friend, George DeLany, Jr. He disappeared from Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) on March 12, 2011 and was found on April 17, 2011, sadly, to have died. We had to wait less than 24-hours for DNA testing to confirm that it was George who had been found.
Many families have been waiting for years for news of their loved ones. And many people who have died, have done so without identification and await their final journey home.
Billy's Law is named in honor of Billy Smolinski, Jr., who went missing more than six years ago, and has yet to be found.
Won't you lend your name to this worthy cause? Put the best of the technology that our nation has to offer to work for those who are missing.
It was a day of many mixed emotions - which I guess ironically makes sense at any missing persons event in general.
Perhaps I can help you gain a bit of perspective on what I mean by my typed sentence directly above here by sharing some of the days comments from Families of Missing Loved Ones below ....
We just don't know what to do.
One minute we think it might be okay, but the next moment we're not even sure we can even make it through to seeing the next second, it hurts so bad.
I can't believe I've endured having a missing loved one this long, I never thought I'd be able to last as long as I have.
Thank you for displaying their picture (NamUs Missing Person Poster) - you have no idea as to how much that means to us - it is everything!
People who give us hope help us go on, we couldn't do it without them and the hope they offer.
I will never give up on them - I'll never stop looking.
You have no idea how much this day means to us, we've traveled from (insert many States even COUNTRIES away) just to be here ... wouldn't have missed it for the world.
NamUs has finally given us some hope back! We thought we'd lost it all for good shortly before finding out about it ... We MUST pass Billy's Law and make it stronger!
I walked away from this event even more convinced of two things in particular ...
1. I painfully have no magic words to take away this intensely horrific of a pain that families of the missing are forced to endure - every second of every day.
2. Procedures, legislation and action such as NamUs, Billy's Law, Resourceful Law Enforcement, Kelsey's Law, etc. are SO NEEDED - and so worth fighting for ... we must work together to ensure these full of hope for the missing things.
PEACE4 THE MISSING:Voice Platform and Support Network for Families of Missing and Victims of Crime. *CommandCentral for the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law)*http://peace4missing.ning.com
PEACE4 THE MISSING:Voice Platform and Support Network for Families of Missing and Victims of Crime. *CommandCentral for the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law)* http://peace4missing.ning.com
BILLY'S LAW- HR 1300 & SR 702 On March 2011 Billy's Law was introduced into the House Of Representatives as most of you know the law was hung up in the Senate last year. All Bills have to be introduced again if not passed by the end of the year and this is where we are at now. What this means is we are back to square one and the Bill has to go through the same political process as last year meaning we need Cosponsors. There is a change this time on how we are going to handle getting cosponsors which will be explained.
If you look at the top of the page you will see HR 1300 & SR 702, this is the change I was talking about HR 1300 is the Bill number in the House of Representatives and SR 702 is the Bill number in the US Senate We will be getting cosponsor from both at the same time.
Listed below I will give links on how to find and write to your Congressman in the House of Rep and your US Senators ( remember 2 Senators per state ).
First of all a very special Thank you to Congressman Chris Murphy and Ted Poe for sponsoring this Bill and once again making it bipartisan.
We all know how important this Bill is these letters and emails MUST be written this Bill will pick up momentum and once it does we have to be ready with our voices even stronger then before. If you are a family with a missing loved one please share your story in your letters.
This is the first post on are call to action I'm sure there will be many more before we are done if there are any questions please feel free to ask and we will get back with answers asap. Also as before when Congressman and Senators cosponsor this Bill they will be listed.
PEACE4 THE MISSING:Voice Platform and Support Network for Families of Missing and Victims of Crime. *CommandCentral for the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law)*http://peace4missing.ning.com
"Billy's Law" sits in two pieces in Congress: H.R. 1300 and S.R. 702. And that's how our nation's databases sit, disconnected, in the forms of the Department of Justice "NaMUs" database and the FBI's "Missing Persons Database." Pass the Bills into law and you'll connect the databases to help find those who have gone missing and those who are "unidentified" remains.
Billy's Law passed the House last term in 2010, but never left the Senate Judiciary Committee. This legislation was recently reintroduced.
Our goal is to bring the voice of The People to The Hill on behalf of the missing.
We bring this Petition on behalf of our classmate and friend, George DeLany, Jr. He disappeared from Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) on March 12, 2011 and was found on April 17, 2011, sadly, to have died. We had to wait less than 24-hours for DNA testing to confirm that it was George who had been found.
Many families have been waiting for years for news of their loved ones. And many people who have died, have done so without identification and await their final journey home.
Billy's Law is named in honor of Billy Smolinski, Jr., who went missing five years ago, and has yet to be found.
Won't you lend your name to this worthy cause? Put the best of the technology that our nation has to offer to work for those who are missing.
This letter is a call to action to the House, Senate, and President to enact "Billy's Law" (H.R. 1300 & S.R. 702).
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated in 2007 that more than 40,000 human remains were unidentified and being held in Coroner's Offices nationwide. This amounts to a national tragedy for the missing, their families, and friends.
All available technology should be brought together to assist in the search for the missing, including the Department of Justice "NaMUs" database and the FBI's NCIC database.
Please take action today to advance, sign, and implement this important legislation.
We at Peace4 the Missing along with the family of Billy Smolinski extend our deeply heartfelt gratitude towards George Delaney, whose life has propelled so many others to pick up this cause and successfully encourage Senator Schumer to support Billy's Law. We are so very humbled and moved by all of you.
Schumer has sponsored this legislation in the past, and his co-sponsorship this Congress comes in the wake of the recent death of George Delaney, a Rochester Institute of Technology student. When George Delany went missing on March 12th, RIT faculty and students joined with law enforcement and the community to search for him. http://www.eveningtribune.com/features/x1798440022/Rochester-Instit...
This week they wrote to Senator Schumer in support of Billy’s Law, after experiencing firsthand the gaps in our national missing person response system. Schumer states that the enactment of Billy’s Law will provide law enforcement officials with the tools and resources it needs to better conduct the search for missing adults.
“George Delany’s death is a tragedy for Rochester and all of New York,” said Schumer. “And, what is even more difficult to believe are the loopholes in our national missing persons system. Just as we provide law enforcement with tools like the Amber alert and access to missing person databases when children are missing, we should not tolerate delays and lapses in information when people over the age of 18, like George Delany, are missing. Billy’s Law would provide the critical tools and alerts to law enforcement officials that are essential in the search of missing adults. What’s more, Billy’s Law seeks to bring our national missing persons databases into the 21st century, creating a central resource for officials and families that are so desperately trying to locate their loved ones.”
RIT professor Paloma Capanna, along with a dozen RIT students who were personally involved in the search for George wrote to Senator Schumer in support of this legislation stating, “Our support for this [legislation] comes from our personal experience with our classmate and friend, George Delany. At least two college students go missing every week. And, nationwide, more than 20,000 persons are reported missing each year. The federal government should intervene to ensure that any barriers to participation in and access to all available databases are eliminated, including supplements for any fees that may be prohibitive within county budgets.”
Billy’s Law would authorize the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), which was created in July 2007 by the Department of Justice (DOJ), to provide a missing persons/unidentified database that the public could access and contribute to. The law would connect NamUs with the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in order to create more comprehensive missing persons and unidentified remains databases and streamlining the reporting process for local law enforcement. Billy’s Law would expand current law by requiring missing children be reported to NamUs in addition to NCIC, and would create a grant program to help states, local law enforcement and medical examiners report missing persons and unidentified remains to NCIC, NamUs, and the National DNA Index System (NDIS). And, finally Billy’s Law requires the DOJ issue guidelines and best practices on handling missing persons and unidentified remains cases in order to empower law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners to help find the missing.
Billy’s Law is named after Billy Smolinski of Waterbury, Connecticut who went missing on August 24, 2004 at the age of 31. Billy’s family quickly learned that while federal law mandates law enforcement report missing children, there are no such requirements for adults – or unidentified bodies. Compounding this problem is the fact that local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and coroners, often don’t have the resources or training to voluntarily report these cases. Finally, even when missing adults and remains are reported, the wide-range of unconnected federal, state, local, and non-profit databases to help match the missing with unidentified bodies, makes finding a match an often insurmountable challenge.
“I personally don’t know you, but please come back soon.”
“Strangers are praying — come home.”
Those pleas are just three of hundreds written on a banner for George DeLany, the previously missing Rochester Institute of Technology student whose remains were discovered Sunday night in a shallow indentation near the Wayland-Cohocton town line.
DeLany was last seen March 12, the day before his car was found in the Town of Wayland. State police in vain led massive search efforts, but it was a landowner who found DeLany in a previously unsearched area, two-to-three miles from the missing student’s vehicle.
Tuesday evening a crowd of approximately 75 gathered at the Schmitt Interfaith Center for a memorial service on the R.I.T. campus to remember their friend, classmate, and student.
“For those of you that knew George, I’m awfully sorry for your loss. For those of you that didn’t know George, I’m sorry for your loss, that you didn’t have a chance to get to know him,” said Mary-Beth Cooper, senior vice president for Student Affairs at R.I.T.
Adjunct faculty member Paloma Capanna, who was active in the “Students Finding George DeLany” organization publicizing his disappearance, read a letter from the DeLany family. The family wasn’t in attendance.
The letter summed up DeLany as a “nice person” who wanted to be known as a “tough guy,” despite it being against his nature.
“We are all a bit shy, and George inherited that trait,” said the letter. “That was tough to deal with as he grew older. Once he became involved with people, he could open up, and show the young man we loved so much.”
Much of the conversation at the memorial service centered on the community that developed during DeLany’s disappearance.
“Over the past month, our group (Students Finding George DeLany), with everyone here and in the community, has experienced something special, and that’s because of George,” said R.I.T. student James Brigden. “Not only has he built a sense of community that people work forever to try to build, he’s built it strong ... People work a lifetime to try to build a sense of community, and George did it in a very small amount of time.”
R.I.T. President Bill Destler, speaking before Brigden, also emphasized the community that had developed, and needed to continue.
“I hope all of us will dedicate ourselves to that basic idea, that we are all a family. Those of us that need help, need to know that we can help them,” said Destler. “We don’t know, we may never know, exactly what happened to George. But I think we do know that we have a responsibility to try to minimize these kinds of tragedies.
“If I’m proud of anything, I’m proud of the fact that this community kept its vigil going, both in person here on campus and on social networks ... I’m proud we didn’t give up hope until the very last.”
The discovery of DeLany’s remains would seem to bring closure, but Capanna and Brigden said they wouldn’t step back from the incident that has enveloped them in the past month. Capanna said she and the students will lobby to get Billy’s Law, legislation previously rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee, back to the Senate.
Some of the details of the case — such as why DeLany was in Wayland, or the official cause of death — aren’t known. To Brigden, whatever details still unknown are irrelevant.
“We’re at the point where we have an answer for George’s family. The details we don’t know, and there aren’t many, aren’t as important to the students,” he said.
Others, though, such as sophomore D.J. Abele, are still curious as to what happened to their classmate.
“I’m torn. Part of me wants to know what happened. I don’t want more horrible news. I don’t,” he said.
If anyone has watched the journey our family has taken to try and find a real person, disappeared, ignored by the authorities as a walk away, hurtful remarks made, evidence lost, entries wrong and incomplete, six years later and still the enormous up hill push just to bring my son home.
Please Help Find Our Missing Loved Ones
We are just a small example of the thousands of families who have to face the reality of a similar nightmare/silent crisis that faces our nation today.
Education is the key~~there is a centralized database that will help connect the dots possibly make matches or bring a loved one home called NamUs.
Imagine a person you love so dearly, a child perhaps (no matter the age they are always your child) go missing with very little attention ~ to then finally receive HOPE ... who would not stand up and say WAIT this is what we have been waiting for! ?? Perhaps a solution?
In our state of Connecticut, like most states, Billy has been missing for six years, but yet the state police ~ public safety ~ have not and will not put Billy as a missing person on their database because they say he is not their case. We questioned and were told Billy's case belongs in the lead agency database, ok, but the computers don't connect, so it will not work.
Our country is in desperate need of a new system, the disjointed, confusing process and tools currently available prior to the creation of NamUs were not working! And unfortunately, until more agencies are required to utilize NamUs (part of what Billy's Law would initiate) this broken, ineffective method will continue.
Now for the first time ever a centralized database is available and incentives are needed to help train law enforcement and medical examiners/coroners how to enter the information and take DNA samples, put into the proper databases, results that are much needed, a resolution for the family of a missing loved one may be possible, it is proven to have worked already.
A missing person DOES NOT have to be deceased for this to work.
Check your local or state clearinghouses, look at the disaster of information entered ... see for yourself the tangled web of missing pieces, entries here there and everywhere and dead ends ... it doesn't make sense.
You decide ... is this the kind of system you'd want to put the majority of your hopes for finding your missing loved one into??
If you say I don't have to worry about this it won't happen to my family, think again ~ NO ONE IS EXEMPT!!
It is time to wake up!
It is time to get the ball rolling and support the best database to date.
If law enforcement is here to serve and protect then lets educate them how to help serve and protect. It is not their fault if they are not trained, incentives are needed to help in the process.
It is 2010, this is why we in this country need S3019 ~ Help Find the Missing Act ~ Billy's Law.
Billy's Law (The Help Find the Missing Act) is a proposed bill that was created in order to strengthen and increase utilization of our National Missing Persons Database (NamUs.Gov)
More info can be found on PEACE4 THE MISSING
Voice Platform and Support Network for Families of Missing and Victims of Crime http://peace4missing.ning.com/
Watch the ENTIRE EPISODE of Billy Smolinski's missing persons case story that was featured as an episode on Investigation Discovery right here ...
Billy is the Missing Son of our Peace4, Jan Smolinski - Jan created Billy's Law - the act to HELP FIND THE MISSING ... to help protect other families from ever having to endure many of the unnecessary, horror their family endured while seeking for their missing son.
This is not a closed case - the Smolinski family is still actively seeking justice for Billy ... do you know something? Can you help spread the word? http://justice4billy.com
