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French Police End Missing Persons Searches, Suggest Using Facebook
itwbennett writes "According to an announcement on a French government website, police have stopped current searches for missing adults and will not accept new search requests. 'Such 'searches in the interests of the family' were conducted under an administrative procedure almost a century old, introduced to help families separated during the upheavals of World War I to find missing relatives,' according to the French Ministry of the Interior. In a letter to police chiefs announcing the changes, the Ministry advised them to instead 'direct people towards social networks on the Internet, which offer interesting possibilities.'"
the French surrender.
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
Should be looked for on ebay.
As the description of this says, this applies to adults. I'll admit I didn't RTFA, but I assume that means nothing will change with regards to children.
Sure, if your 9 year old daughter is a missing adult, they won't be looking for her any time soon. What a snag!
Ezekiel 23:20
I'm sure cops everywhere will continue to "outsource" their roles in the wake of diminishing budgets. (Although this does sound like a headline from The Onion.)
The summary is missing the important qualifier "... unless the person may be in danger". So, apparent abductions and unexplained disappearances would still get police assistance like you would expect.
As per the article. Searches will continue for minors, and for those who disappear in worrying circumstances -- for example those with suicidal intent, or victims of a crime -- as they are conducted under a different procedure.
A fugitive in flight is a deliberately missing person. I assume that they would hunt a man who killed a couple of guards while escaping prison.
Then there is this nasty inference. If they are willing to hunt for horrid creeps but unwilling to hunt for wholesome citizens what value system does that reflect?
As we move closer to total surveillance as a normal mode of living the French seem to want to swim against the stream. They will turn about and go with the flow either before or after they reach exhaustion.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recherche_dans_l'int%C3%A9r%C3%AAt_des_familles
It is not when somebody disappear in suspicious circumstance, it is when somebody is gone without leaving address to contact in NON SUSPICIOUS circumstance.
He has a very particular set of skills.
Please, this is /. we know that no one reads the article.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
so... when you report your missing person, you always say they may be suicidal and voila! they will look for your missing person!
problem sovled
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Status update: Kidnapped
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
..on /.?!? Unbelievable!! (only if you haven't ever been on /.) What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a typical non-story sensationalized by a partial summery to leave out the key information to in order to get the comments section worked up over nothing. Shouldn't editors at least check the story to ensure the summary isn't intentionally devoid of the facts?
So, taxpaying adults are shit out of luck, while the all-around drains on government that are children get special treatment? What the hell?
The problem seems to be in the phrase 'missing person', which I guess is a translation thing. When people hear 'missing person', they think of someone who has suddenly disappeared - didn't come home from work, etc. Those cases they will still investigate, of course. What they are no longer doing is helping to find a person you have lost contact with (and I can't imagine their are many police forces in the world that would help with that under normal circumstances).
So, taxpaying adults are shit out of luck, while the all-around drains on government that are children get special treatment? What the hell?
Do you frequently get lost?
Feel free to make a list of other countries where the police will continue to find people for you just because you are related to them and can't be bothered to look them up in any other way.
Go ahead. I'll wait.
So, taxpaying adults are shit out of luck
Unlike children, adults have a right to disappear and start a new life somewhere else. Unless there is a reasonable suspicion that a law has been broken, the police should not be spending tax dollars to find people that don't want to be found.
I thought we used /. so we didn't have to read the article. someone posts a story, a brief exert and we move on.
and by the way I am PREMIUM dancer.
His children example was used for shockvalue, but the point is still the same - for the most part, if someone dissappears without a trace, foul play is involved. They MIGHT have just decided to skip town, but most people don't. Lets say its not your 9 year old daughter. Lets say your 23 year old daughter never comes home from work. I'd like to hear something besides "Check Facebook" from the local authorities.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
They can also be kidnapped, in an accident, or killed. They can also disappear to avoid debts and other obligations, rather than just wanting a new life. Stopping searching entirely sounds like a really bad idea. For those who did just want a new life, the cops don't have to tell anyone they found them.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
That makes far more sense. I think the summary could have done a better job in explaining that.
I'm surprised that they did look for people that were missing in that fashion. Then again, after 2 world wars, I can see why they would have done so in the past. Although it does seem like a bit of a risk for stalkers.
Harm can be done by spreading such a search on facebook, if it isn't legitimate.
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
This is stupid, since dead bodies normally don't call or go on Facebook. If the missing person is dead, you won't find here body unless you search for it, if you find it to start with.
Sometimes missing people are never found at all.
Did you miss " Unless there is a reasonable suspicion that a law has been broken"
for the most part, if someone dissappears without a trace, foul play is involved.
This is your uninformed opinion.
The actual facts are that the majority of requests in recent years were just searches for people skipping out on alimony payments.
Watch this Heartland Institute video
In case you hadn't realized it. Society is for the creation and rearing of our young. It plays directly into our basic instincts.
the police should not be spending tax dollars to find people that don't want to be found.
Or Euros, for that matter.
In which case, one would assume a law is being broken by not following your court decreed payments? So why wouldn't the polic elook into it?
As an adult, you have the right to privacy. Long as you aren't being illegal, you don't wish to be found, that's your business. And the french aren't talking about kids anyways. There's nothing wrong with that announcement.
Here in Utah, Susan Powel disappeared w/o any trace . . .
Nina Reiser disappeared with almost no traces
at least 1 of those Cleveland women found was an adult with next to no traces of foul play
People don't just disappear with out a reason.
The cops are doing this because its a lot of work that shows little results. IE, they feel it's a waste of time.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
The point is still irrelevant, since they are not stopping investigations of sudden disappearances.
What has been suppressed here is only the RIF procedure (Recherche dans l'Interet des Familles, lit. Research in the Interest of Relatives). With this procedure, one could ask the state to search for a *long lost* relative, provided he gave proof of being in the same family (birth certificate, marital contract etc...).
It has *nothing* to do with distress calls like "My husband didn't come home last night after work and no one has seen him since yesterday afternoon".
Those are still handeled by the police just as they have always been. Whether you are a children or an adult does not matter. Any suspicious disappearance reported to the police will be acted upon. The procedure that has been axed (the RIF one) is rather the kind of search you would want a private detective agency to carry. Yes, in France these kind of search could be done by the state (with taxpayer money). I say good riddance.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recherche_dans_l'int%C3%A9r%C3%AAt_des_familles
Unlike children, adults have a right to disappear and start a new life somewhere else.
Sort of depends on how many bills and debts they are skipping out on, doesn't it?
I doubt anyone other than a single migrant worker can simply disappear without someone else holding a bag of rent bills, electric bills, child support, or some such.
Disappearance is seldom a victimless event.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Exactly.
Disappearing to skip out on child support payments (as well as other debts and bills) is a big issue.
And probably those who defend the "right" to disappear and start over somewhere else 1) are male, 2) have personal involvement in such issues, and 3) think that saddling their Ex with huge bills "servers her right".
Intentionally disappearing is almost always a method to defraud someone else.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Although it does seem like a bit of a risk for stalkers.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but are you implying that stalkers would use the police to help them find their victim if the victim has managed to vanish from their sights? If so, I think it's a ridiculous concern. Don't you think that if a stalking victim goes to the police and says "I think somebody, maybe my former lover, is stalking me" they would immediately say "yes, we have it on record that we helped such and such find you" and in that case it would be pretty damn good proof that such and such is guilty. In other cases stalking can be harder to prove - how can you prove that someone is stalking you if all you can prove is that you have noticed your stalker in the same place as you are with unusual frequency. Pretty hard to argue that it's not a coincidence if you live in the same area or the stalker has any other plausible reason to be there. Then it's just coincidence. But if the police have helped someone find you and you accuse them of stalking you now that proves beyond any doubt that the stalker had the intention of finding you.
The general idea I think is that the police would post it on their official facebook page, assuming french police have one. I've (unfortunately) had experience with exactly this.. being on facebook didn't work though and the person is still missing. I found that most people just don't pay attention to such things, there are just too many faces in the crowds we all walk through every day.
If it's an adult and there is no indication of a crime AGAINST the missing person, then the correct solution is a Private Investigator. Not the police. The police should be focusing their efforts on stopping actual crimes and responding to actual events... not highly improbable events with no evidence to back up that the event even occurred.
Also, if the issue is debt / other obligations then that's yet another case that you should use a Private Investigator to find them. The fact that someone owes YOU money doesn't mean EVERYONE ELSE should pay for the search. There's a pretty good chance that in most cases more resources will be spent to find the person that what than they even owed to start with - especially if it's the police doing the searching.
If the cops can find "missing person" because they're just hiding out (rather than foul play) then so can a private investigator. If the PI cant, then its unlikely the police officer will.
Now, if they're skipping bond or breaking some other existing judgement that is a criminal offense (rather than a civil one) then there's at least a case of asking the police to get involved. They'd be investigating and stopping an actual criminal offense.
Other than that... if you wanna know where a missing adult is then spend your own dime to find 'em. It'll be done more efficiently and more thoroughly with the added benefit of letting the cops worry about what they're actually supposed to be doing.
All of this assumes there's not circumstances that indicate foul play. If there are, then the search should be underway. Also, while one person being missing is relatively unlikely it becomes much more unlikely to be "no big deal" when several people have been reported missing (becoming even more unlikely with each additional one). Obviously that should be looked into as a likely criminal event simply because of how unlikely the events are as a collection.
My present is the activity I am currently engaged in with the purpose of turning the future into a better past.
I could have sworn I accidentally visited The Onion when I saw the headline.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
They won't only suggest you try "fassbeurk".
They'll also stick out their bottom lip and do that palms up shrug thing.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Unlike children, adults have a right to disappear and start a new life somewhere else.
Sort of depends on how many bills and debts they are skipping out on, doesn't it?
No it doesn't. The police are not private debt collectors. If you extend credit to a deadbeat, that is your problem.
rent bills
Whenever I have rented, I was required to pay a deposit + first and last month's rent. So if I skip out, I lose my deposit.
electric bills
In America it is common to be billed for electricity. But I have lived in other countries where it is pre-paid, and that worked fine.
child support, or some such.
Skipping out on court ordered child support is a crime, so it is reasonable for the police to get involved in that case.
The problem seems to be in the phrase 'missing person', which I guess is a translation thing
I am a native french speaker, and I have readen the letter from ministry of interior to police chiefs. The document does not tell about missing persons, or any term that could be translated that way. It only deals with recherches dans l'intérêt des familles, which one could translate into "searches for the family interest".
The original document organizing the procedure is about personne recherchée "researched person", and Personne disparue, which you could translate into "missing person", or "person that has disapeared".
If it's an adult and there is no indication of a crime AGAINST the missing person, then the correct solution is a Private Investigator. Not the police. The police should be focusing their efforts on stopping actual crimes and responding to actual events... not highly improbable events with no evidence to back up that the event even occurred.
Well, you know, when women are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves, there's usually no indication of a crime. The only indication is that they're suddenly missing.
Also, if the issue is debt / other obligations then that's yet another case that you should use a Private Investigator to find them. The fact that someone owes YOU money doesn't mean EVERYONE ELSE should pay for the search. There's a pretty good chance that in most cases more resources will be spent to find the person that what than they even owed to start with - especially if it's the police doing the searching.
So, if someone steals from me, the police shouldn't do anything either, right? I mean, he stole from ME, why should everyone else pay for me to get my stuff back?