Santa Clara Sheriff Announces 63 Missing Girls

Some South Bay police departments accused Sheriff Laurie Smith of raising a false alarm with the list of missing girls..

In the wake of the Sierra Lamar abduction and alleged murder, there are many more missing girls in Santa Clara County -- 63, to be exact, according to Sheriff Laurie Smith.

Smith's missing something herself -- common sense, according to the South Bay police departments who took issue with her figure. Sgt. Chad Gallacinao of Gilroy called that number "utterly false," accoring to the San Jose Mercury News.

The problem is that the list includes missing girls who aren't at risk, or who are known to be somewhere, just not at home.

For example, Smith's list, issued Wednesday, included 43 girls listed as missing in San Jose alone. Most, if not all, of those unlocated juvenile females are runaways, the newspaper reported, and not abductions.

Many missing children nationwide have in fact been located, the newspaper noted. Just not at home.

Other oddities make Smith's statistics not entirely accurate. A child was taken out of the country by her mother, and the angry father listed her as missing with police. That case is on the list.

"A detective may talk to them or see the kid posting on Facebook, so we know they're alive and well, and nothing to indicate they're a victim of a crime," said Jason Dwyer, a spokesman for the San Jose Police Department. "But because they're not home and in bed they remain in MUPS," -- the Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

And on Smith's list.

"It's not clear why Smith, when talking about a case that is believed to be a kidnapping and murder, raised an alarm over children believed to have run away," the newspaper reported.

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