SENATE MEMORIAL 48

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Gregg Schmedes and Pete Campos

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 21, 2023 "MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS DAY" IN THE SENATE.

 

     WHEREAS, to assist in the efforts to locate and identify missing and unidentified persons, within thirty days, the department of public safety is required by the Mark Daniel Aguilar information sharing requirement of the Missing Persons Information and Reporting Act to share the following information with the national missing and unidentified persons system created by the United States department of justice's national institute of justice:

          A. all information in the missing persons information clearinghouse; and

          B. all information the department of public safety receives pursuant to the Missing Persons Information and Reporting Act regarding the identification and location of missing and unidentified persons or human remains; and

     WHEREAS, the Mark Daniel Aguilar information sharing requirement became effective on June 14, 2019; and

     WHEREAS, in New Mexico, there are currently more than two hundred thirty-two active missing persons cases and one hundred thirty-two unidentified persons cases that have been successfully shared and imported into the national missing and unidentified persons system as of February 6, 2023; and

     WHEREAS, the national missing and unidentified persons system is a nationwide information clearinghouse for missing, unidentified and unclaimed persons cases across the United States that provides resources to law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, allied forensic professionals and family members of missing persons; and

     WHEREAS, the national missing and unidentified persons system has twenty-two thousand six hundred ninety-two missing persons and fourteen thousand three hundred sixty unidentified persons entered into the national database; and

     WHEREAS, the national crime information center, as of December 31, 2020, contained eighty-nine thousand six hundred thirty-seven active missing persons records; and

     WHEREAS, missing persons cases affect people of every age, race, religion, socioeconomic status, gender and social and cultural background, changing the dynamic of a family in an instant; and

     WHEREAS, few circumstances are more devastating to a family than the unknown whereabouts or fate of a loved one;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 21, 2023 be declared "Missing and Unidentified Persons Day" in the senate; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that recognition be extended to all missing and unidentified persons and to the many families of missing persons that endure ambiguous loss; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that New Mexicans recognize those families affected by a loved one's disappearance and continue to keep missing persons a priority; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public safety for appropriate distribution.

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