Expert: Jack Toomey - 12/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi.  I'm writing a young adult novel that centers around the kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl.  She lives in a suburban neighborhood and doesn't come home from school one day.  Her mother talks to the girl's principal and science teacher because the girl claimed to be staying after school all week to work on a science project.  The teacher tells the mother that there was no science project.  The girl's family calls her friends but no one knows where she is or what she's been doing.  No one saw her get taken.  

When the mother contacts the police, would they assume the girl ran away?  Would they come to the house?  What steps would be taken to find her?  And when they can't find her, what happens next?

Later in the story the girl's backpack is found in a Dumpster with her name on the school papers, her clothes and shoes from the day she went missing, and her hair in it that her kidnapper cut off to disguise her.  Would the police definitely think it was a kidnapping after finding the backpack?  What would they do next?  How long before they stop searching altogether?

Any help you could give me is greatly appreciated.  I don't want to misrepresent police procedure, especially when writing for children/teens.

Thanks again.
Melissa

ANSWER: Melissa,

I hope that you understand that there is no way that I can tell you what the police would assume, think, or do.  That is because there are thousands of police departments, hundreds of thousands of police officers in this country, and all are human beings with different instincts.  But I can try to help you understand what MIGHT happen  in your story.

All cases of missing eleven year olds are considered to be "critical" or important.  I cannot possibly tell you without knowing the girl if the first officer on the scene would assume that she ran away.  I am guessing that you could understand that.  But I can assure you that the police would come to the house to interview whoever called the police.  I can also predict that the first officer would try to determine if the girl had ever not come home from school before and if so where had she gone and who was she with.  If she had never done this before the officer very well might ask for the names of her friends and then contact them by phone or ask the parents to do that if they haven't done this before the arrival of the police.  If none of her friends had seen her or knew where she might be there might be a ground search depending on how far it is to the school.  If its many miles and the girl would normally take the bus then they might look around the school and inside the school.  If she wasn't found in due time her name would be entered into the national computer (NCIC).


How long later is the backpack found in the dumpster?  The next day?  A week later?  It probably doesn't matter but if I was the lead detective I'd suspect that the girl had been abducted.

Why would the police stop searching?  There is a case in Maryland where two sisters disappeared in 1975 and it is still an open case and detectives are working it today.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response.  I have two more questions, if you don't mind.

Would the police officers coming to the house to interview the girl's family be detectives?  If not, what would their official title be?

Also, when the girl's name is entered into the national computer, would the FBI get involved at that point?  If the FBI gets involved, how much do the local police continue to be involved?  Would the FBI re-interview the family and friends?

Thank you for your help.

Answer
The initial response would be by a patrol officer who would receive the call over the police radio.  That is the way that police departments operate.  Eventually detectives would get involved.  When?  It depends on what police department is handling the case.  If it is small town department without detectives or two or three it might be awhile.  If its a big city department it probably would be sooner.

The FBI would not be involved unless there was a violation of federal laws.  If the girl was truly kidnapped and a ransom had been demanded or there was proof that she had been taken across state lines then that is against federal law.  If not then the FBI would not be involved.