PC News by David Murphy

MINNEAPOLIS – A new online database promises to crack some of the nation’s 100,000 missing persons cases and provide answers to desperate families, but only a fraction of law enforcement agencies are using it.

The clearinghouse, dubbed NamUs (Name Us), offers a quick way to check whether a missing loved one might be among the 40,000 sets of unidentified remains that languish at any given time with medical examiners across the country. NamUs is free, yet many law enforcement agencies still aren’t aware of it, and others aren’t convinced they should use their limited staff resources to participate.

Janice Smolinski hopes that changes — and soon. Her son, Billy, was 31 when he vanished five years ago. The Cheshire, Conn., woman fears he was murdered, his body hidden away.

She’s now championing a bill in Congress, named “Billy’s Law” after her son, that would set aside more funding and make other changes to encourage wider use of NamUs. Only about 1,100 of the nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide are registered to use the system, even though it already has been hailed for solving 16 cases since it became fully operational last year.

“As these cases become more well known, as people learn about the successes of NamUs, more and more agencies are going to want to be part of it,” said Kristina Rose, acting director of the National Institute of Justice at the Justice Department.

Before NamUs, families and investigators had to go through the slow process of checking with medical examiner’s offices one by one. As the Smolinski family searched for clues to Billy’s fate, they met a maze of federal, state and nonprofit missing person databases that weren’t completely public and didn’t share information well with each other.

NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, allows one-stop sleuthing for amateurs, families and police. Anyone can enter all the data they have on a missing person, including descriptions, photos, fingerprints, dental records and DNA. Medical examiners can enter the same data on unidentified bodies, and anyone can search the database for potential matches that warrant further investigation.

So far, about 6,200 sets of remains and nearly 2,800 missing people have been entered, said Kevin Lothridge, CEO of the National Forensic Science Technology Center in Largo, Fla., which runs NamUs for the Justice Department.

Detective Jim Shields of the Omaha, Neb., Police Department hadn’t heard about NamUs until he saw a presentation at a conference in 2008. He then had a local volunteer associated with NamUs input his data on several missing people.

Among them was Luis Fernandez, who had been missing for nearly a year before his family went to police in 2008. Shields didn’t have a lot on Fernandez, a known gang member who’d been in and out of jail — only gender, race, height, weight, age and some data on his tattoos.

It proved to be enough. Just a few weeks later, similarities were spotted with the unidentified remains of a homicide victim found in a farm field in Iowa in 2007. In January, a lab informed Shields it had a DNA match — and that he could break the news to Fernandez’ family.

“I could say fairly certainly that this would never have been solved if not for NamUs,” Shields said.

Some other recent successes:

• Paula Beverly Davis, of the Kansas City, Mo., area, had been missing for 22 years until a relative saw a public service announcement on TV in October for NamUs and told her sister, who gave it a try. Among the 10 matches her sister found were a body dumped in Ohio in 1987 that had the same rose and unicorn tattoos as her sister. DNA tests confirmed the body was Davis.

• Sonia Lente disappeared in 2002. Last June, an amateur cybersleuth with the Doe Network, a nationwide volunteer group that helps law enforcement solve cold cases, noticed similarities between Lente’s description in NamUs and an unidentified body found near Albuquerque, N.M., in 2004. Dental records later established it was Lente.

Detective Stuart Somershoe of the Phoenix Police Department said his agency, which has over 500 open missing persons cases, just finished entering 100 cases into NamUs. He’s hopeful his department can make a match.

“It’s kind of time-consuming but I think it’s a worthwhile program,” Somershoe said.

NamUs grew out of a Justice Department task force working on the challenge of solving missing persons cases. One need that the task force identified was to give people who could help solve cases better access to database information.

“Billy’s Law” sailed through the House late last month and is pending in the Senate, where supporters are confident it will easily pass.

The bill would authorize $10 million in grants annually that police, sheriffs, medical examiners and coroners could use to train people to use NamUs and to help cover the costs of entering data into the system. It would also authorize another $2.4 million a year to run the system and ensure permanent funding.

The bill would also link NamUs with a major FBI crime database that’s now available only to law enforcement, partly because it contains sensitive information about ongoing investigations. That confidential data would be withheld from NamUs when necessary.

Billy Smolinski, of Waterbury, Conn., was last seen Aug. 24, 2004, when he asked a neighbor to look after his dog. His pickup truck was later found outside his home, though not where he usually parked it. His wallet and other belongings were still inside.

The Smolinski family first struggled to get police to take a missing adult case seriously. It took a long time for investigators to finally conclude Billy had been killed, perhaps as a result of a love triangle gone sour. The family put up reward posters, searched places where they thought his body might have been hidden and kept pressure on police.

Smolinski said she came to see how police were often overwhelmed, but to her NamUs is a “no-brainer.”

“If they find remains I’m hopeful they’ll identify him through NamUs,” Smolinski said.

On the Net:

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System: http://www.namus.gov

J’ai deux chers amis, Marjean Fichtenberg et Edmunds Sherry-Flett qui sont dans le milieu de faire quelques recherches victime, à Abbotsford. Ils tentent d’évaluer la nécessité d’un centre d’aide pour les victimes d’homicide à Abbotsford et les gens ont besoin de remplir un sondage en ligne.

Contexte: Le fils de Marjean, Dennis a été assassiné à Prince George en 1991 (l’histoire de la suite pour Marjean est aussi horrible que la lutte de toute victime a j’ai entendu). Elle est membre du Canada Commission des libérations conditionnelles comité consultatif pour les victimes, et est régulièrement invité affiché sur ce blog pendant plusieurs mois. Sherry a soulevé dans le capital de prison au Canada, à Kingston, en Ontario. Elle a enseigné dans les systèmes de prison pour plusieurs années, et est un pionnier dans des initiatives de justice réparatrice au Canada.

Personnellement, je pense que c’est une évidence, ne le capital d’assassiner du Canada ont besoin d’un centre de victimes? Hell Yes! Mais la recherche et l’allocation des ressources du gouvernement ne fonctionne pas vraiment de cette façon.

Alors s’il vous plaît prendre un moment pour remplir leur questionnaire. Cliquez ici pour accéder au site.

René-Charles Quirion
La Tribune
(Ottawa) C’est avec un discours du trône favorable aux projets de loi en faveur des victimes et qui serre la vis aux criminels que Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu commence sa carrière au Sénat.

Un poste qu’il a accepté en mettant la condition de pouvoir continuer à défendre les victimes d’actes criminels sur la place publique.

«Je suis très heureux du discours du Trône qui prévoit une modification à l’assurance-emploi en faveur des familles victimes de meurtre et qui offre aux employés sous règlementation fédérale la possibilité de prendre un congé sans solde à la suite d’un acte criminel vécu par un membre de leur famille. C’est un beau cadeau que l’on fait aux familles de victimes qui devrait être appuyé par le Parti libéral et le Bloc québécois», explique le nouveau sénateur conservateur qui avait fait une sortie publique sur le sujet en compagnie de la députée bloquiste de Compton-Stanstead, France Bonsant, avant sa nomination au Sénat.

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu se réjouit qu’une douzaine de projets de loi inclus dans le discours du Trône fassent partie des revendications présentées par l’AFPAD.

Peines plus sévères

«Le gouvernement souhaite rendre les peines plus sévères pour les criminels qui touchent aux enfants. Un projet de loi souhaite faire en sorte que les récidivistes en matière de meurtres restent incarcérés, alors qu’un autre améliorera les procédures pénales pour réduire la durée des procès. Je pars avec le discours du Trône sous le bras pour en expliquer la philosophie à la population. Par la suite, mon mandat sera d’appuyer ces projets de loi au Sénat en amenant des exemples concrets de familles victimes. Les conservateurs étant majoritaires au Sénat, nous pourrons même inviter des proches de victimes à venir témoigner de leur expérience en comité sénatorial», explique M. Boisvenu.

Le nouveau sénateur n’entend pas y rester jusqu’à 75 ans et encore moins y jouer un rôle de figurant.

Police have a suspect in the case of Louise Chaput, the Sherbrooke social worker who disappeared and was found murdered in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 2001. NH police aren’t saying much other than that the suspect is male and lived in the NH region at that time.

There is DNA evidence from the crime scene that could link the suspect.

- TVA film footage here.

- Details on Chaput from the NH cold case website here.

Il ya un article dans La Presse de dimanche qui commence assez mauvais augure … Un adieu à Pierre Hugues Boisvenu comme il descend de l’AFPAD et entreprend son voyage au Sénat canadien. Puis écrivain Katia Gagnon s’engage dans une “full-court-press”  sur l’association, son ancien chef et tout ce qui a été accompli au cours des cinq dernières années au cause des victimes de la criminalité. L’article est diffamatoire et une insulte à la réputation des M. Boisvenu et son ancien ami et collègue, Marcel Bolduc. c’est ce que nous appelons en anglais “a Wedge”, visant à diviser et de trianguler une croyance, une bonne cause, et, finalement, les amitiés. L’ignorer. A la réflexion, le lire. Se souvenir de lui. Utilisez-le comme un outil.

M. Bolduc a été attribué un poste rémunéré dans AFPAD fondées sur le mérite ou le copinage?

I don’t care.

M. Bolduc a donné une très modeste indemnité en échange de services, nous parlons à peine AdScam ici. Bolduc est un pionnier de la défense des droits des victimes au Québec. Je vais dire encore une fois, Marcel Bolduc est un PIONNIER de Québec VICTIMES DE PLAIDOYER. Il le faisait seul devant beaucoup d’entre nous savait ce travail a été, avant que la plupart d’entre nous seraient finalement subir le même niveau de la tragédie à laquelle il était devenu si malheureusement connu. En termes simples: Pas de Marcel?

1.Pas Who Killed Theresa? Certainement pas de me défendre.

2. Pas d’un Cold Case Bureau avec la SQ

3. Pas d’AFPAD

4. Et les droits des victimes au Québec sont laissés complètement marginalisé.

Es que Pierre a dans le passé m’a demandé de faire des choses en échange de services AFPAD? Pas directement, mais je reçois la dérive, et je fais la promotion AFPAD volontiers. Il bâtit une marque, un réseau. That’s business.

N’a jamais ma AFPAD ignorer les intérêts particuliers en ce qui concerne les problèmes des victimes? Certainement. Ma préoccupation est des cas de froid, de crimes non résolus, l’AFPAD a été plus axé sur l’après-processus de justice de première instance (questions de l’incarcération, libération conditionnelle). Peu importe. Nous travaillons tous pour un objectif commun. Vous ne pouvez pas attendre d’une organisation de cette ampleur pour représenter toutes les voix, toutes les préoccupations. Il a suffi que certains besoins, la majorité des besoins deviennent remplies.

Pierre a obtenu le remboursement des dépenses? Bien sûr. Les montants ont-elles déraisonnables? Bien sûr que non. Pierre est / a été l’organisation … courir autour de Québec dans sa voiture, parlant à tout le monde et qui voulait l’entendre. Est-il déraisonnable pour lui de s’attendre à ce remboursement pour l’alimentation, le gaz et l’hébergement?

J’ai toujours su que cette question reviendrait à mordre AFPAD dans le cul. Ainsi soit-il.Il ne suffit pas que les victimes d’actes criminels ont à subir la tragédie qu’ils ont à faire leur propre défense et la travail de la police parce que le gouvernement est mal équipé pour faire ce travail en leur nom (encore qu’ils représentent – en vigueur – la cause des criminels) , aujourd’hui victimes de la criminalité doivent faire faillite afin de faire avancer leurs intérêts.

C’est une vieille histoire. J’ai perdu des milliers de dollars dans l’avion et en voiture au Québec, en faisant mon propre travail de la police, le lobbying pour les intérêts des victimes, n’entraînant que des dommages psychologiques à moi-même. Et qu’est-ce que le gouvernement du Québec offre déjà à titre de compensation pour l’effort? 600 $ pour des services funéraires. Je vous remercie, mais elle – et sa cause – ne sont pas encore tout à fait mort.

Pierre, Marcel, et AFPAD, gardez branchant loin. Pour les médias, je dise: Assez.

There is an article in Sunday’s La Presse that begins inauspicious enough… a farewell to Pierre Hugues Boisvenu as he steps down from AFPAD and embarks on his journey to the Canadian Senate. Then writer Katia Gagnon engages in a full-court-press on the association, its former leader and everything that has been achieved in the last five years for the cause of crime victims.

The article is slanderous and an insult to the reputations of both M. Boisvenu and his former friend and colleague, Marcel Bolduc. it is what we call in English “a wedge”, designed to divide and triangulate a belief, a good purpose, and ultimately friendships. Ignore it. On second thought, read it. Remember it. Use it as a tool.

Was M. Bolduc awarded a paid position in AFPAD based on merit or cronyism? I don’t care. M. Bolduc was given a very modest compensation in exchange for services, we are hardly talking AdScam here. Bolduc is a pioneer in victims advocacy in Quebec. I will say that again, Marcel Bolduc is a PIONEER in QUEBEC VICTIMS ADVOCACY. He was doing it alone before many of us knew what grassroots work was, before most of us would ultimately suffer the same level of tragedy with which he had become so unfortunately acquainted.  Simply put: No Marcel?

1.  No Who Killed Theresa? Certainly no me advocating.

2. No Cold Case Bureau with the SQ

3. No AFPAD

4. And victims rights in Quebec are left totally marginalized.

Has Pierre in the past asked me to do things in exchange for AFPAD services? Not directly, but I get the drift, and I promote AFPAD willingly. He is building a brand, a network. That’s business.

Did AFPAD ever ignore my special interests regarding victims issues? Certainly. My concern is cold cases, unsolved crimes, AFPAD has been more focused on the post-trial justice process (incarceration issues, parole). No matter. We all are working for a common goal. You cannot expect an organization of this magnitude to represent every voice, every concern. It was enough that some needs, the majority of needs are getting met.

Has Pierre been reimbursed for expenses? Of course. Are the amounts unreasonable? Of course not. Pierre IS / HAS BEEN the organization… running around Quebec in his car, speaking to everyone and anyone who would listen. Is it unreasonable for him to expect reimbursement for food, gas and lodging?

I always knew this issue would come back to bite AFPAD in the ass. So be it. It isn’t enough that crime victims have to suffer tragedy, that they have to do their own advocating and police work because the government is ill equipped to do that work on their behalf (yet they represent – in force  - the cause of criminals), now crime victims must go broke in order to advance their interests.

It is an old story. I have wasted thousands of dollars on plane and car trips to Quebec, doing my own police work, lobbying for victims’ interests, incurring psychological damage to my self. And what did the Quebec government ever offer as compensation for the effort? $600 for funeral services. Thank you, but she – and her cause – are not quite dead yet.

Pierre, Marcel, and AFPAD, keep plugging away. To the media I say, Enough.

“I’ve been down here working my ass off for you people.”?

Not the cultural sensitivity I want displayed by my rep for the status of women. Ms. Guergis, Canada won’t be needing your services any longer.

Critics say ‘petulant’ Helena Guergis must go

They say anyone else would have been barred from plane or arrested for outburst in P.E.I.

OTTAWA–Acting like a “petulant child” at the Charlottetown airport should cost junior federal minister Helena Guergis her cabinet job, critics say.

Airport workers are said to be still reeling from the behaviour displayed on Feb. 19 by the minister of state for the status of women, even though she apologized – six days after the fact.

Despite allegedly screaming obscenities at airport staff after she was asked to remove her boots, Guergis was allowed to board her flight to Montreal along with an aide, leading to charges of a double standard.

Critics said Friday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has no choice but to show her the door, citing the precedent set when former Progressive Conservative housing minister Alan Redway was forced to resign in 1991 after he was charged for joking about having a gun while boarding a flight.

“She acted like a petulant child. I think she should be forced to resign because she showed such contempt for ordinary Canadians and the people of that province (Prince Edward Island) that I think she has lost the moral authority to be a minister of the Crown,” said NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre).

Martin said if anyone else displayed that kind of behaviour they would at least have been taken aside and probably not allowed to board the airplane, and, at worst, arrested and possibly Tasered.

“(Harper) needs to ask her to step down. Ms. Guergis’s behaviour is completely unacceptable of any citizen, let alone a minister of the Crown,” said Anita Neville, the Liberal critic for the status of women.

The Prime Minister’s Office told the Toronto Star: “She has apologized for her actions. The matter is closed.”

In her apology, Guergis, the MP for Simcoe-Grey, played down the tantrum, saying she “spoke emotionally to some staff members.”

Ned Frank, a retired Queen’s University political science professor, said “nastiness” has become the hallmark of the Conservative government.

“It’s part of a pattern.”

In the Feb. 19 incident, on Guergis’s 41st birthday, she and an aide showed up at the last minute to catch the plane.

“On Feb. 19, I was rushing to catch a flight at Charlottetown airport and spoke emotionally to some staff members,” she stated. “Regardless of my workload and personal circumstances, it was not appropriate and I apologize to airport and Air Canada staff.”

An anonymous but carefully detailed account of her tirade was sent to P.E.I. Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque). According to the account, Guergis and aide Emily Goucher arrived a few minutes before the scheduled takeoff of an Air Canada flight to Montreal.

When asked to sit down and remove her footwear, Guergis “slammed her boots into the bin” provided by security personnel and then, according to the account, said to one of the airport staff: “Happy f —ing birthday to me. I guess I’m stuck on this hellhole.”

Guergis then allegedly tried to force open the locked door that separates the pre-board screening room from the area where the aircraft was waiting. When reminded that most passengers are asked to arrive at the airport two hours before boarding, Guergis allegedly shouted back: “I don’t need to be lectured about flight time by you. I’ve been down here working my ass off for you people.”

Senator Colin Kenny, who has worked extensively on airport security, said an average traveller who acted the way Guergis did would have run into trouble. “I suspect he or she wouldn’t have got on the plane,” he said.

“Banging on doors and shouting certainly isn’t going to ease your way onto a plane normally. … Someone in public life should know that that’s not how you behave.”

Easter said a number of people have asked him whether an ordinary traveller might not have been detained or even arrested for carrying on the way the junior minister did in the airport.

“That’s a very good question,” he said in an interview. “I think it’s clear that her VIP status is what got her on the flight.”

The incident is the latest setback for Guergis and husband Rahim Jaffer, a former Conservative Edmonton MP. Jaffer faces a March 9 court date in which he is expected to enter a plea bargain on drunk driving and cocaine possession charges.

QUÉBEC – «L’intérêt public et la sécurité de la population ont moins d’importance que le droit du criminel à l’anonymat.»

Le nouveau sénateur conservateur Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu continue de marteler son message à l’égard des récidivistes dangereux comme Jacques Lemieux, un «déviant sexuel non traité» capable d’une «brutalité démesurée» selon la Commission nationale des libérations conditionnelles (CNLC).

Après avoir purgé la totalité de sa peine de 23 ans de pénitencier, l’individu récemment libéré se retrouve aujourd’hui derrière les barreaux pour avoir violé une jeune femme de Québec sous la menace d’une arme à feu.

Le président de l’Association des familles de personnes assassinées ou disparues (AFPAD) affirme que le système carcéral a les mains liées pour deux raisons : les droits des criminels inclus dans la charte des droits et libertés et le Code criminel inadapté. Ce dernier exige un suivi drastique et des mesures permanentes.

«Ce dossier ne me surprend pas. La réhabilitation est une approche qu’il faut préconiser, mais elle ne peut s’appliquer aux criminels dangereux et irrécupérables. Malheureusement, le Code criminel est muet sur l’encadrement pour les dangereux récidivistes.»

Le registre national des délinquants sexuels et le statut de délinquant dangereux, lesquels n’existaient pas à l’époque, pourraient devenir importants dans le cas présent.

À l’Assemblée nationale

Le «dossier Lemieux» a eu des échos jusqu’à l’Assemblée nationale, hier. Le porte-parole de l’opposition officielle en matière de sécurité publique, Bertrand St-Arnaud, a interpellé le ministre Jacques Dupuis à ce sujet.

«Quand un individu comme celui-là représente un danger au moment de sa sortie, il y a des mécanismes qui viennent en force pour éviter qu’il y ait récidive. Je peux assurer la population que, dans les cas comme celui-là, c’est clair que les autorités policières sont vigilantes», a notamment répondu M. Dupuis.

Le Service correctionnel du Canada a redirigé toutes les questions vers le Service de police de la Ville de Québec.

«Une fois que les délinquants ont atteint la fin de leur peine, ils ne relèvent plus de la compétence du SCC.»

«Aucun corps de police au Canada n’a le droit d’informer les proches d’un ex-détenu qui a purgé toute sa peine des antécédents criminels de celui-ci», a précisé le porte-parole du SPVQ.

«60% des prédateurs sexuels récidivent en dedans de trois mois. Le Québec ne s’est jamais doté de moyens efficaces. C’était un beau cas pour la castration. C’est embarrassant pour tout le monde. J’ai évalué des détenus qui voulaient se faire castrer en prison et je n’ai pas été capable. La direction s’y opposait», mentionne le psychiatre Pierre Mailloux.

Le Journal de Québec

ctvcalgary.ca

An inmate was released into the Calgary area and police have issued a public warning in the interest of public safety.

Henri Jean Rusk, 52, served a three year federal sentence for sexual assault and is now being monitored by the Calgary Police Service High Risk Offender Program on a Recognizance Order.

Police say Rusk has a history of violent and sexual offences and his previous sexual assault convictions were committed against strangers or women he met by chance.

Rusk’s danger level may be increased when he is intoxicated by alcohol and/or drugs and he has used several aliases in the past including Frank John Bothorel, Francios Jean Edward Bothoreal, Henri John Allard and Henri Jean Allard.

Rusk is described as:

• 183 cm or 6 feet tall
• 91 kgs or 200 lbs
• Long grey hair
• Hazel eyes
• Facial hair

Calgary Police say they issued the information after careful deliberation and consideration of all related issues, including privacy concerns because they believe that it is clearly in the public interest to inform the members of the community of Rusk’s release.