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https://twitter.com/BAM_FI/status/685539447572688896

Marlon Mitchell of Louisiana said he’s fed up with the police after they callously brushed off his cries for help when his teenage daughter and her friend went missing.

According to the Huffington Post, Mitchell had approached the police telling them that his 16-year-old daughter Shaylon Mitchell and her best friend of the same age, Nasya Pradier, had last been seen on Wednesday getting into a car outside of Lafayette High School.

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Mitchell became frustrated when the authorities didn’t express any concern or prepare a missing persons investigation.

“It’s mind boggling. They didn’t care and it was all we could do to get them to do anything. We couldn’t even get the television stations to report it.”

Instead, the authorities labeled the girls as runaways and stated that they had to wait 48 hours before searching for the two teens. Eventually, the girls were discovered when the police began to look for them on Friday; the officers were pressured in the search by sympathizers who shared their outrage at the story on social media.

Natalie Wilson, the co-founder and director of PR for the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc. said it makes matters worse for children when they are listed as runaways. That classification generally means that authorities will put less effort into searching for them.

“A large number of children who run away end up being victims of sex trafficking. And when they are classified as runaways, they don’t receive an amber alert or any media attention at all, which is what we saw in this case.”

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The Huffington Post didn’t explain what accounted for the girls’ disappearance. Despite their outreach to the local police, the authorities would not respond to the publication for comment.

Mitchell said the incident was highly unusual for his studious and well-mannered daughter. He credits social media users for helping him find his daughter, as the negative attention online had spurred authorities into action. Even though the girls have been found, Mitchell claimed that his fight to help missing Blacks isn’t over.

“I’m glad they’re safe and what not, but this is not dead for me. The things we had to deal with the last two days—that kind of behavior needs to be silenced. All cases need to be looked into.”

[SOURCE: Huffington Post]

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Detroit Mom Fighting For Answers 3 Years After Daughter Goes Missing

5 Reasons Why 1.5 Million Black Men Are ‘Missing’ In America, According To The NY Times

Little Girl Lost: Relisha Rudd Still Missing After 1 Year

Louisiana Dad Speaks Out In Anger After Cops Dragged Their Feet To Find His Missing Daughter  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com