A video created by, Jatsive Hernandez, a young flight attendant, went viral on Twitter. In the video she talks about how she came up with her “If I go missing” folder and why it is important to have one.
The “If I go missing” folder contains information that could potentially help find you such as general information: full name, date of birth, sex, gender, address, phone number, employment and relationship status, children (if any), ethnicity, religious affiliations; physical appearance: height, weight, eye color, hair color, a fingerprint card, and pictures of tattoos, piercings, scars and birthmark; medical information: doctor and dentist offices; social media and email accounts and password, vehicle information, etc.
“You just never know when you’re going to run into like a bad situation. And police lose a lot of time during missing cases because they have to legally try and get permission to access that information so by creating this folder. I’m giving them that information up front and hopefully speeding up that process, so I can be found earlier,” Hernandez said.
We all know that the first 48 hours are the most crucial in a missing person case. By creating a “If I go missing” folder would save time and barriers that could occur during the search. The timing of officers getting the information depends on its availability.
Leon County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Shade McMillian said, “It takes a day sometimes takes two or three days. It can take one to three days depending on where the information is located.”
The Tallahassee Sheriff’s department agrees that this is a great idea for people to implement. They suggest that you at least have a current picture of your driver license or some form of ID, Fingerprint card, dental information, and blood type if possible, in your folder.
Deputy McMillian said, “I think that the more information we have on a person, and the ability to identify a person, always, always helps in our investigation.”
Deputy McMillian strongly suggested that you only give access to this information to people you trust such as your parents or your significant other because the information is personal.
Hernandez said that she keeps her “If I go missing” folder in a very secure place because it contains sensitive information. She only carries an emergency contact list of people who know where her folder can be located and only a few of those people have access to it.
This folder is a way for you to be your own advocate for your safety, specifically for females.
Hernandez said she got the idea from the Crime Junkie podcast. The two hosts of The Crime Junkie, Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat, are big believers in being your own advocate.
According to Google dictionary, self-advocacy is the action of representing oneself or one’s views or interests.
Ashley Jamieson, a lawyer who posted the video on Twitter said, “Yes it’s self-advocacy because for one it teaches you to prepare and plan for yourself in case of harm, and allows you to be a messenger to other women on the importance of prioritizing your safety first.”