Questions for January 15, 2004, are submitted by Jackie Griffey, author of Welcome Lazarus, Recycling Humanity, Memphis In Our Hearts and the upcoming Once Burned. For further information on all e-mail: jacsbooks@futura.net
"In a novel I have 'on a back burner'....
Using a legal work permit a Mexican man has been employed in the USA over the past several summers. He returns for another summer, but this year he is not alone. He has brought along a younger brother. Only weeks after their arrival, the boy calls his sister with disturbing news [the Mexican man] has vanished!
The sister enlists a friend of the local sheriff in the search for her [older] brother. The plot and sub-plots are done. The Mexican man is alive. The bad guys are headed for jail. Expanding on the questions with pertinent information would be appreciated."
1a. Who would the sheriff notify in these times of 'heightened' home security? What is the name of the agency [agencies] local law enforcement contacts?
b. Who does the sheriff contact about sending the Mexican man back to his country of origin along with his kin who have come to help find him'?
A. This is a matter of normal, everyday procedure in any disappearance. If the local sheriff believes the Mexican man has been taken across state or country lines, the case is a state and federal matter. The State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation would be contacted. With the question of a foreign national's disappearance having the possibility of being connected to terrorist acts, the "Office of Homeland Security" would also be notified. The sheriff disseminates the disappearance of a "foreign national," i.e., your Mexican man to all law enforcement agencies. Notifications (e-mails, faxes, et. al.) would take place within twenty-four hours.
B. The federal government agency involved with "foreign nationals" is the Office of Immigration and Naturalization (INS) which it seems from your description to pertain to all three of your characters.
Many law enforcement personnel are involved in a task force. There could be two to three from each different agency working on the one investigation. Many hours are put into running down leads as quickly as possible. Teams are sent out to probe locations and persons associated in any way with the victim. Backgrounds of people involved at the time of the crime will also be detailed. They will either be eliminated from the investigation or more information will be obtained until the investigators connect the dots and close the investigation.
At the big bust where [the Mexican man] is rescued and the bad guys caught --
2. Does the sheriff get to do this on his own, then notify the homeland security office as my manuscript reads at present?
Your Mexican man is missing in a particular county. The sheriff's office in the county would be notified as the public law enforcement agency.
IF your story line includes terrorism THEN it follows that a task force would be formed consisting of the investigators from all agencies to be assigned to the missing person case including the "homeland security." All of these investigators might or might not have a part in the rescue and capture of the bad guys.
The local sheriff can be an alert and knowledgeable character who follows all the rules and gets his/her man…maybe a maverick who takes unnecessary chances...or??? Either with the task force or without it, the sheriff can be written into a position where s/he alone rescues the Mexican man.
Appreciate your questions, Jackie! This story has me hooked. Let us know its publication date.
Play it safe!
Dennis J. McGowan
Authors! Don't hesitate. Now is the time to send your questions to ReadersRoom2@aol.com. or
www.dennisjmcgowan.com
Copyright 2003 by
ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.
