Post by Scumhunter on Oct 27, 2022 7:31:29 GMT -5
Hi guys,
I know I was referring ominously to going away for a bit and I can reveal why the reason why I was invited to visit the In Pursuit hotline!
Me and Hayden Walsh arrived in the DC area via Amtrak and later were on our way to the call center which is located in the state of the art National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) center in Virginia. We were greeted by a guy named Reggie who worked on the crew and took photos for AMW.
From there I met Samara Toro the hotline operator and others who worked for the NCMEC and/or In Pursuit holiness. Mike the new show runner for In Pursuit was there as well as former AMW producer Gavin Portnoy who now works for In Pursuit and NCMEC as well.
We then went inside the In Pursuit tip-taking room. Basically what happens is the episode is shown on a big screen in the room to refresh everyone's memory even though they usually have seen it in advance. There is also a case packet and summary. From there all the different law enforcement officials on each case are interviewed on Zoom. First they are asked if they want anything to add, while Samara asks her own questions as to what may be helpful or what to look for- does the fugitive have any tattoos never revealed publicly so if someone calls in and mentions it they know it's a hot tip etc... Other characteristics such as hobbies the fugitive likes to do, do they drink or smoke where they do have family etc... are also asked.
It is a small operation but Samara and her team handle everything well, especially considering the hotline lit up during the Jolene Hibbs and Charles Ausiello profile! Tips from all over the country! It was cool overhearing them ask questions as to why they think it's them, how confident are you on a scale of 1-10 etc... Michele Sigona and a few U.S. Marshals were on the other side of the room.
They apparently will act really excited or the room will suddenly get quiet if there is an especially hot tip. There were no "omg" moments regarding Ausiello and Hibbs or a tip they thought was THE tip but the fact that there were several people calling in with tips to look into to see if there was anything there was very encouraging, especially considering it isn't always that active in the room.
Someone also called the hotline to tell them to look into Israel Keyes during the Boca Raton mall case. Me and Hayden were ironically just talking about how although we didn't think it was him, the case was similar to his M.O. but he would have been identified as the suspect by now if it was him. I certainly appreciate people calling the hotline anyway, but it was funny how I can see the true crime community's favorite suspects in unsolved cases play out in real time lol.
Afterwards, we were given a bit of a tour of NCMEC overall, the operations center, a memorabilia section that included old missing children milk cartons, a John Walsh lunch box and comic book and the AMW capture bell!
But yeah it was cool to see the behind the scenes. The team at In Pursuit does great work considering the volume of cases they have to work with and relatively small amount of staff!
I know I was referring ominously to going away for a bit and I can reveal why the reason why I was invited to visit the In Pursuit hotline!
Me and Hayden Walsh arrived in the DC area via Amtrak and later were on our way to the call center which is located in the state of the art National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) center in Virginia. We were greeted by a guy named Reggie who worked on the crew and took photos for AMW.
From there I met Samara Toro the hotline operator and others who worked for the NCMEC and/or In Pursuit holiness. Mike the new show runner for In Pursuit was there as well as former AMW producer Gavin Portnoy who now works for In Pursuit and NCMEC as well.
We then went inside the In Pursuit tip-taking room. Basically what happens is the episode is shown on a big screen in the room to refresh everyone's memory even though they usually have seen it in advance. There is also a case packet and summary. From there all the different law enforcement officials on each case are interviewed on Zoom. First they are asked if they want anything to add, while Samara asks her own questions as to what may be helpful or what to look for- does the fugitive have any tattoos never revealed publicly so if someone calls in and mentions it they know it's a hot tip etc... Other characteristics such as hobbies the fugitive likes to do, do they drink or smoke where they do have family etc... are also asked.
It is a small operation but Samara and her team handle everything well, especially considering the hotline lit up during the Jolene Hibbs and Charles Ausiello profile! Tips from all over the country! It was cool overhearing them ask questions as to why they think it's them, how confident are you on a scale of 1-10 etc... Michele Sigona and a few U.S. Marshals were on the other side of the room.
They apparently will act really excited or the room will suddenly get quiet if there is an especially hot tip. There were no "omg" moments regarding Ausiello and Hibbs or a tip they thought was THE tip but the fact that there were several people calling in with tips to look into to see if there was anything there was very encouraging, especially considering it isn't always that active in the room.
Someone also called the hotline to tell them to look into Israel Keyes during the Boca Raton mall case. Me and Hayden were ironically just talking about how although we didn't think it was him, the case was similar to his M.O. but he would have been identified as the suspect by now if it was him. I certainly appreciate people calling the hotline anyway, but it was funny how I can see the true crime community's favorite suspects in unsolved cases play out in real time lol.
Afterwards, we were given a bit of a tour of NCMEC overall, the operations center, a memorabilia section that included old missing children milk cartons, a John Walsh lunch box and comic book and the AMW capture bell!
But yeah it was cool to see the behind the scenes. The team at In Pursuit does great work considering the volume of cases they have to work with and relatively small amount of staff!
