Finding Old Faces In The New Year

by Lina M. Maini

Welcome back and a happy, prosperous, safe and sane 2009 to all.

This time of the year, the dual-faced Janus finds us simultaneously looking backward at unfinished business and forward to the future. It is not surprising, therefore, that we notice an uptick in requests for people locates in December and January.

Barring criminal activity, most of us innocuously and accumulatively lose people in life, usually due to school, work, family, careers...

As our readers know, BNI works exclusively for the trial law and legal community. We do not accept service requests from the general public. Every so often, however, one of our attorney or corporate clients will ask us to conduct a personal subject locate. In the spirit of hope and unity in a new year, we offer the following tips gratis for this search type:

Tips for Finding Missing Persons:

The first suggestion is what NOT to do:

Do not use alleged free search sites such as alliedpeoplesearch.com. "Alleged" because it is a teaser site - forcing you to register at Reunion.com before releasing unqualified information.

Now for the DO list:

1. Google the person. (Put the "name" in quotes to reduce irrelevance and redundancy.)

2. Search the ultimate white and yellow pages - Argali. (This site simultaneously searches multiple search engines - white pages, infospace/intellus, anywho...)

3. Search genealogy sites: (First check Cyndi's List - an archive of 250,000+ genealogy sites, starting off with the most populated, Ancestry and YourFamily, registries.

4. Check the Missing Persons Org site if you believe the person may have been reported missing.

5. And, if you have reason to believe the person may have passed on, research the Social Security Number Index site. (You don't need the subject's SSN; just the name - although, if in the registry, the SSN will return.)

Finally, be creative. Think of activities or interests the person may have enjoyed and search those sites, leave posts on their bulletin boards or conversely, put up your own web site with a missing person page. It all comes down to algorithms. Increase your chances of a successful locate by putting it out before potential millions of eyes that you are searching for that person.

Of course, if all else fails, or there is a legal and or time constraint, you can give us a shout.

BNI Operatives: Street smart; web savvy.

Stay safe and again, a happy New Year to all.