SAN ANTONIO – Questions are rising regarding how law enforcement handles cases of missing people and how they prioritize them. Many people have started to ask as the case of missing Olmos Park mother Suzanne Clark Simpson is being investigated.
“All of our missing that are classified as endangered, those are run through a system every day,” said John Patillo, a missing person agent from the San Antonio Police Department.
Patillo said the priority in a missing person case depends on the safety or potential danger someone may be in. The urgency depends on what information an agency is able to collect.
“Ultimately, we are looking for last seen location as well as last state of contact,” Patillo said. “Are there any locations that they’re known to hang out at, friends, all of those are fundamental things that we need to understand.”
Patillo said that San Antonio police has 15 agents dedicated to missing people daily, but it is a team game.
He said additional resources are used depending on the situation, such as the Texas Rangers of the Texas Department of Public Safety assisting Olmos Park police in the Simpson case or SAPD lending 25 cadets to help search for Simpson.
“There might be times when we communicate with homicide, or special victims unit, or fusion unit. It just depends on the circumstances,” Patillo said.
Another topic people on social media have been discussing is whether cases involving certain races and financial classes receive more attention.
“Absolutely not; when we conduct an investigation, we don’t look at who they are, we look at what the investigation is,” Patillo said.