The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a national clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases throughout the United States. NamUs is funded and administered by the

National Institute of Justice The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Juvenil ...

through a cooperative agreement with the University of North Texas Health Science Center's Center for Human Identification. NamUs resources are provided to law enforcement, medical examiners,

coroners A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

, allied forensic professionals, and family members of missing persons. They include technology, forensic and analytical services, investigative support, and local, regional, and online training programs.

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

have passed legislation to include NamUs listings.

Services

* Database technology which provides a secure, easy-to-use, centralized online database for information sharing, case management, advanced searching, and automatic matching tools to expedite case associations and resolutions. * Regional Program Specialists (RPSs) who hold Department of Justice security clearances, vet all professional users and case data, assist with the collection of biometric information, provide NamUs training, assist with the coordination and implementation of missing person day events, and provide investigative support to missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases. * Fingerprint services to scan, classify, upload, analyze, and compare fingerprint information submitted to NamUs, including collaboration with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

(FBI) for searching unidentified decedent prints through the FBI's

Next Generation Identification Next Generation Identification (NGI) is a project of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The project's goal is to expand the capabilities of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which is currently used by law e ...

national database. * Nuclear and

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

analyses through the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification's Missing Persons Unit. * Forensic

odontology Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...

services to obtain, code, and upload dental information to NamUs. * Forensic anthropology services through the Missing Persons Unit. * Analytical services to assist with locating indication of life for persons reported missing to NamUs, locating family contact information for DNA collections and next of kin death notifications, and locating/vetting tips and leads related to missing and unidentified person cases.

History

In 2003, the

began funding major efforts to maximize the use of DNA technology in the

U.S. criminal justice system Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarcerati ...

, including in the investigation of missing and unidentified person cases. By 2005, the institute expanded its efforts with the “Identifying the Missing Summit”, where criminal justice practitioners, forensic scientists, policymakers, and victim advocates defined major challenges in investigating and solving missing and unidentified decedent cases. As a result of that summit, the Deputy Attorney General created the National Missing Persons Task Force. It identified the need to improve access to information that would help solve missing and unidentified person cases. NamUs was created to meet that need. In 2007, the NamUs Unidentified Persons database was launched. The following year, the NamUs Missing Persons (MP) database was launched. In 2009, the two databases were connected for automatic case comparisons. In 2011, daily management of NamUs was transitioned to the University of North Texas Health Science Center, with continued administration and oversight by the National Institute of Justice. Management through the Center for Human Identification at the university enhanced NamUs's ability to facilitate DNA services and enhanced the quality and quantity of DNA information entered into NamUs. In 2012, an Analytical Division was added to NamUs. Also in 2012, the NamUs AFIS/Fingerprint Unit was created, bringing additional in-house forensic services to NamUs, including a collaboration with the FBI's Latent Print Unit to search all unidentified decedent prints through the Next Generation Identification system. In May 2018, NamUs 2.0 was released.

In popular culture

*NamUs was referenced in episode 12, season 12 of the TV drama '' Criminal Minds.'' The discovery of several sets of unidentified remains caught the attention of investigators seeking help from the FBI to solve the cases.Clemente, Jim. "A Good Husband." '' Criminal Minds''. Season 12, episode 12. 8 February 2017. Television.

References

External links

* {{authority control Missing people organizations United States Department of Justice Forensics organizations Law enforcement databases in the United States Forensic databases Person databases