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Kansas City police launch partnership with community group to help find missing people

AdHoc Group Against Crime proposed idea
Posted at 2:59 PM, Sep 25, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-25 15:59:10-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Families with a missing loved one have a new resource that might help make their world whole again.

The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and AdHoc Group Against Crime have been working together for years, but on Monday, they officially announced their partnership. The advocacy group has served as a bridge between the community and police department for about 40 years.

The group’s president, Damon Daniel, said he reached out to the police department about three weeks ago to form a collaboration to help find missing people. His goal is to “empower” families of the missing. 

“Oftentimes families are concerned that not enough is being done,” Daniel explained. “So this is an extension of the police department for their efforts and our efforts to assure the family and provide some comfort that we're doing everything we can to locate the loved ones.”

The partnership will work in three ways. First, the police and AdHoc group will use social media to share information and pictures of the missing. Second, AdHoc will raise awareness about the missing person through public service announcements. And lastly, AdHoc will organize volunteers to canvass neighborhoods and pass out flyers.

All the while, AdHoc will act as a direct line between families and police detectives, who often have to keep details of their investigation private.  

KCPD said no specific case sparked this partnership, dispelling rumors that it was formed in response to due to the Carrie Blewett case.

In cases of missing adults, Sgt. Ben Caldwell of KCPD’s Missing Persons Section said his department should take a report every time, but it can be difficult to gauge how much danger a person is in. 

“Adults have a right to privacy,” the sergeant said. “We really need to be able to articulate that they're in danger or there's something wrong, they're too young to care for themselves, or their circumstances are indicative of foul play, or medications are an issue, or things like that to show they’re in danger.”

So far this year, KCPD has worked about 800 missing person cases. Most are runaway children or adults with medical conditions, according to Caldwell.

For information about AdHoc’s work, click here or call 816-861-5500.