Good Morning Julie,
I know we’ve talked a bit about it but for Montana, here goes:
1) We do have photos on our website. On average, we see about 80-90% of persons missing persons having photos on our website. We automated our process through our state’s message switch to automatically send information and photos into our own state-held database whenever a law enforcement agency enters a missing person or missing person image into NCIC. We then have a call from our website to our state database every 15 minutes to check for updates, clears, cancels, etc.
2) We do not require a waiver and most of the photos come directly from law enforcement. A majority of our photos are DL photos BUT our lawmakers felt strongly enough about our website that back in 2019, they passed an opt-in child photo law. This law grants access for MT DOJ employees to our Office of Public Instruction (OPI)’s database of school children. Each fall, children have their photos taken. Schools are supposed to send a mailer in with their picture packets that enables parents opt-in to having their child’s photo shared with DOJ for the express purpose of use if their child goes missing. If its filled out and signed by a parent/guardian, the image is uploaded into OPI’s database. Since its opt-in, we do have about 25% of all school-aged Montana children having photos in that database. Every week I check OPI’s database for children without photos and add them if I find them.
3) For implementation of our automated process, mostly getting all the moving parts on the same page and having meetings about the work flow. We changed our State’s Switch 2 years ago and it took a while to get all the moving pieces on board to “reconnect” things. Otherwise our biggest hurdle for photos is the marginalized youth – those in either some sort of government care or those coming from broken homes. Most parents I talk to have hundreds if not thousands of photos of their children on their cell phones. But the kids in care or those that are in and out of youth homes? Those are the ones I have a difficult time getting photos for.
I hope that helps!
Brian