Four out of five missing person cases in the District are youths from group homes and many of them are habitual escapers, a new report by the Office of the Inspector General has found.
The news comes as several wards of the District have made headlines in recent weeks as either the perpetrators or victims of violent crimes.
The inspector general’s report highlights key problems within the Metropolitan Police Department’s management of missing person cases and in police training related to children.
| Repeat runaways Source: Office of the Inspector General |
||
| Number of missing | Time frame | |
| person reports filed | reports filed | |
| Youth 1 | 39 | Mar.-Dec. 2009 |
| Youth 2 | 22 | May-Nov. 2009 |
| Youth 3 | 24 | Jan.-Nov. 2009 |
| Youth 4 | 22 | Jan.-Nov. 2009 |
In dealing with missing youths, the report found that Youth Investigative Division detectives often left cases untouched or didn’t close cases when the person resurfaced. In one sampling of 25 cases, the report found five that had no signs of investigative work or case closure and one of those five was a District ward.
At the request of the inspector general, the division then produced paperwork that showed the case was finally closed in March 2010 — nine months after the 20-year-old went missing.
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The report also said officers lacked “adequate training on recognizing indicators of child abuse and neglect” and “as a result, possible cases … may have gone unreported,” and put children in danger.
An MPD spokeswoman was not available to comment, however the department issued a response to the report, which was released last week, saying MPD had updated its policies for reporting and documenting missing persons cases and had issued a new order on child abuse and neglect.
But Inspector General Charles Willoughby said in his report that he was concerned that MPD’s missing persons order “does not outline supervisory protocols that … managers should execute to ensure these actions occur.”
Willoughby added that he is still waiting for an update from MPD on officers who have completed training on recognizing child abuse, even though he contacted MPD about the issue a year ago.
The report also found that juveniles from group homes tend to be repeat runaways and “one MPD senior official estimated that about 80 percent of missing persons cases involve juveniles from group homes. …”
Willoughby said most youths reported missing are breaking curfew and “a very low percentage of these cases involve foul play.”
A spokesman for Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services said agency policy is to issue an alert one hour after a missed curfew even on someone who is habitually late, which likely accounts for the multitude. However, after the order is issued, the case is out of their hands.
“Generally speaking, yes, MPD would be responsible for finding that individual,” said DYRS spokesman Christopher Shorter.
Over the past month, two DYRS wards have been arrested and charged with murder and a third died after being shot in the head in Georgetown. Last week, the family of homicide victim Neil Godleski filed a $20 million wrongful-death suit against the city. They allege the accused shooter was a juvenile criminal offender in the custody of the DYRS at the time of the 2010 shooting.
