AMBER Advocate › Topics › Operations and Structure – Current Status and Future Needs › Posting photos of missing persons on public internet › Reply To: Posting photos of missing persons on public internet
1) If you have photos on your missing person webpage, how did you implement it?
Our public website communicates with and uses the images that are manually uploaded in our state clearinghouse by the clearinghouse manager. We have a check box that indicates the image uploaded can be viewed publicly and/or is facial recognition acceptable. I don’t know the technical aspects of implementation.
2) Do you require any type of waiver from the family or law enforcement agencies that will allow you to post photos?
I don’t believe we have waivers from the family. Images generally come from NCMEC MP posters, the investigating agencies, DCS Case Workers, and online social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and we make it very clear we are requesting these photos for public use on our website. We also ask our Troopers that come into contact with missing juveniles to send in photos of the recovered juveniles.
3) What challenges or roadblocks did you run into?
Challenges include finding images applicable to post to the public; state law prohibits the use of DL/ID photos without a lengthy process to get permission from our ADOT. We are working on an MOU with ADOT to be able to use DL/ID images when a child is missing since these are generally the best photos for the purpose of MP posters. Many of the juveniles in our database are wards of the state and we find that getting DCS responses to photo requests is a huge challenge and more often than not, DCS does not have a photo available.