Social media to trace missing persons

Social media never fails to amaze me. Its reach, its influence, and its impact are not just massive but perhaps unprecedented. From governments to academics to medical personnel to police departments, everyone is increasingly resorting to social media to aid them in their domains.

On our Facebook wall page, we often see help posts from unknown people searching for their missing near and dear ones. The brief window of time immediately after someone is reported missing is critical for investigators. Thus, many police departments are turning more to social media to help make the most of those first hours and minutes.

On Monday night, when a Plano boy went missing, Big Lake Park became the primary focus. Police were able to go heavy in the area where a pond presented the greatest threat, while a secondary effort by volunteers found the boy in a less obvious place.

Plano Police received the call around 8:30 that Jaylen had wandered off from his home near the intersection of Alma Drive and Spring Creek Parkway. Jaylen’s mom, Jemetria Tasby told officers that her son never crosses the busy intersection, so police looked south and focused on nearby Big Lake Park.

“It was very scary. I can’t swim, and I know he can’t swim, so that right there, I felt like he’s gone,” Tasby said. After the initial investigation and thorough search, police turned to social media to ask for the public’s help. In just over an hour, a woman who read the Nextdoor post found Jaylen outside a shopping center on Alma Drive.“It was like I just had him, just like holding a newborn child,” Tasby said.

This was Plano’s second breakthrough in less than a week. Thursday investigators had to wait for a doctor to help authorize a silver alert for a missing elderly man, but while they waited, someone recognized the man from a Facebook post and led police to him.

In February, a similar case got publicized from Winnipeg, Canada, when Cooper Nemeth, a teenager disappeared one morning. In a desperate attempt to find the missing teenager, his family and friends took to social media, asking the public to help find Nemeth. His friends used the hashtag #findcip and created a website to encourage others to share information.