A North Carolina congressman and several colleagues from both sides of the aisle have introduced a bill meant to identify missing person cases on federal land.
Senator Thom Tillis said thousands of people go missing on public lands every year without being recorded in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, which creates a roadblock for search and rescue efforts by law enforcement.
The bill would require the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to add another category to the existing National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems (or NamUs) database that denotes cases where the person went missing or was identified on federal land—including by providing specific location details.
The bill also requires DOJ to submit an annual report to Congress on the number of missing person or suspected missing person cases on public lands from the previous year.
According to a NamUs officials, there are more than 600 million acres of federal land -- which include national parks, national forests, and Bureau of Land Management lands – and estimates suggest that at least 1,600 people have gone missing on them, though the number is likely much higher because isolated or rugged terrain can make it especially difficult to find or identify those missing people.
