Did it ever happen to you that someone you know just vanished? Well, it often happens to other people. Most likely, the police take the person in custody and so no one hears from him or her. If you suspect that a dear person has been arrested by the police then you should take immediate steps to find the person. But how to find out if someone is in custody?
How to Find Out if Someone Is in Custody?
If you suspect that someone close to you might be in police custody, then it can be quite difficult to find out whether your suspicion is true or not within a short time. If you know from where the person got arrested, then it will be easier for you to contact the local police and find out about the missing person.
Even someone who hasn’t committed a crime can be taken to police custody. Being arrested and being in custody is different. When you are in custody, you cannot freely move around on yourself. If you are arrested, on the other hand, you will be handcuffed and taken to the police station. The police usually ask questions when a person is in custody. Here are the things can do to find out the missing person if you suspect that he or she is in custody.
- Try to get in touch with a mutual friend to find out more information about the missing person, like where the person was last located or with whom he or she was seen, etc.
- Call the local police and find out whether the person is in custody or not. You can ask the desk officer to find out if the person has been arrested or not.
- Determine whether the person is being detained. If the person went missing recently you can contact the local jail. But if the person has been missing for a long time, the person probably already has been tried and convicted. So, he or she may be sent to another jail. You should check the federal prisons in this case. You can check on websites like InmateRoster.org for information about the missing person.
- You can visit the website of the county jail. Look for ‘current inmates’ or ‘arrest inquiries’. Then you can enter the first or last name of the person in the search box to find out if that person is in police custody or not. You may need to provide an address, date of birth, etc. to narrow down your search.
- You can call a bail bondsman. You may not know the system well, but the bail bondsman does. So, they will be able to find out whether someone has been taken to custody faster. So, you can take the help of a bail bondsman to find the missing person.
- Check the public notices. You can check arrest information on local government sites. You can also find information on sites related to ‘arrests and bail’.
- The prison system is divided into federal prisons, state prisons, and county jails. A convicted person is sent to prison or jail according to the type of crime the person has committed. There are an online inmate locator services in the federal prison. You can search for the missing person on this website. You need to know the name, age, and other information for searching for the missing person.
- Use the VINE program. VINE stands for ‘Victim Information and Notification Everyday’. This program helps the victims of crimes to get information about the offender’s custody status. However, the VINE program is not available in all countries.
- Use the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. If you suspect that the missing person may be in federal jail, then you can use this website to find the person.
If none of this works, you should try to look at the prison websites of other neighboring countries. Finding a missing person may take time. Initially, the police may not have any record of the missing person. So, without any paperwork, it can be difficult to find the person. You should have patience and make use of all the resources to find the missing person.
