Public Meeting Notice

Public Meeting Notice  Missing Persons Task Force Meeting

Wednesday, December 11, 2019
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
  • Posted: December 5, 2019 2:05 p.m.
  • Last Updated: August 19, 2020 1:02 p.m.

Address

10 Park Plaza - Transportation Building, Boston, MA 02116

Overview   of Missing Persons Task Force Meeting

A meeting of the Missing Persons Task Force will be held on December 11, 2019 from 2:00pm-4:00pm at 10 Park Plaza - Transportation Building in Suite 3720-A 3rd Floor Office of Grants and Research Conference Room.

Meeting Minutes

Members Present:

Angela Davis, Chair - EOPSS

Heather Bish, Member – Molly Bish Foundation

Steve Wojnar, Member – Mass Chiefs

Paula Caradonna, Member - CPCS

Nicole Morrell, Member - MSP

Sarah Kiley Schoff, Member –Cold Case FACTS

Tara Maguire, Member – District Attorneys Association

 

Other Attendees:

Arielle Mullaney - EOPSS

Lis Pimentel – EOPSS

Daniel Hutchinson - DCJIS

Michaela Martini - EOPSS

 

At 2:25p, a meeting of the Missing Persons Task Force was called to order.

 

Welcome and Introductions

Chair Davis stated she was very proud of the work that had been done on the report and the progress the Task Force had made as a whole.

 

Review/Approval of Meeting Minutes

A motion to approve the minutes from the October meeting was made by Attorney Maguire and seconded by Chief Wojnar.

 

Review/Approval of Task Force Report

Heather Bish asked if it would be possible to add a DNA bill she had worked on to help solve cold cases with Senator Anne Gobi added to the report. Sarah stated that the material in the report is very close to a final draft but would benefit from one more round of edits and seconded the idea of including the DNA bill somewhere in the final report. Sarah believed the draft bill would be greatly strengthened if there was inclusion of additional suggestions from today’s meeting that Heather could bring back to the Seantor. Heather gave some background on the DNA bill and noted that the bill is still in draft form. Attorney Maguire noted that the DA’s are currently doing familial testing for cases and that there will be legislation probably at some time to regulate that. Heather responded that the idea would be to regulate and set standards around it with this bill. Heather also stated that she would like to see language that would support victims’ families and communication included in the report. Chief Wojnar said he was going to look at all pending legislation again around missing persons (provided by Spencer Lord at EOPSS). Attorney Maguire stated that if the DNA bill were to be proposed in this report, she would have to run it by each of the District Attorneys and it may affect her vote (as she is a member of this Task Force nominated by the MDAA).  Heather noted Senator Gobi will be filing this legislation for DNA after the winter recess. Chief Wojnar suggested it be added as an appendix. Attorney Mullaney of EOPSS replied the appendix is still part of the report so if members have concerns about it, it should be left out. Sarah asked about the timeline now and mentioned she had a lot of comments and wanted to make sure this is a document that we can really support. Dan Hutchinson (DCJIS) stated that DCJIS can post the missing persons form with NamUs contact information for the agencies to add the information to start to get these cases into NamUs. He spoke to NamUs about getting them to interface NCIC and it they acknowledged it would be up to the state to decide whether to pursue a merged system. They do not have an interface that works that way currently. Sarah said the integration of NamUs and NCIC is valuable to have.

 

Open Session for Topics Not Reasonably Anticipated

Angela asked that we reconvene in January and finding a more easily accessible place for folks.

 

Adjourn

Chief Wojnar made a motion to adjourn and Tara seconded at 3:41pm.

 

Agenda

Missing Persons Task Force Agenda 12/11/19

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Review/Approval of Meeting Minutes
3. Review/Approval of Task Force Report
4. Open Session for Topics not Reasonably Anticipated within 48 Hours of the Meeting

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