Description

Please join us and register today! Law Enforcement Only!

INTERPOL Washington's Missing Person Unit (MPU) will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, August 20 at 1 PM EST to train you on critical INTERPOL resources available to you and your agency at no cost! 

MPU was launched in February 2024 to bring the INTERPOL global network and its tools to your agency in the fight for justice and closure for families, including Yellow Notices (missing persons), Black Notices (unidentified bodies), DNA Requests, and the INTERPOL I-Familia Database.

Dr. Francois Laurent, DNA Database Manager with the INTERPOL General Secretariat, will be the webinar's featured speaker and will focus on the I-Familia Database, a global database for identifying missing persons based upon international kinship matching. 

Virtual attendance is open to all interested individuals within your agency.



SPEAKERS: 

E.B. (Skip) Sigmon III serves as Senior Advisor to the Director at INTERPOL Washington, the United States National Central Bureau (USNCB). In this capacity, he advises and counsels the Director and other senior agency officials in matters including strategic planning and analysis, organizational management, program development, law enforcement futures and foresight, and agency outreach. In addition, he is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on the global criminal investigative tools and resources available from INTERPOL and INTERPOL Washington.

Megan Butts serves as an Investigative Analyst for the Missing Persons Unit at INTERPOL Washington, the United States National Central Bureau (USNCB). Megan joined the Department of Justice in 2015, previously serving as a Program Analyst for the United States Marshals Service, where she supported criminal investigations relating to Fugitives, Sex Offenders and Missing Children. Megan transitioned to her current role in 2023, where she provides investigative and analytical support to missing and unidentified persons investigations. 

Dr. François-Xavier Laurent holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Paris-Saclay. During the first part of his scientific career, he focused on neuromuscular genetic diseases. He then pursued his postdoctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to apply his expertise to the research of new therapeutic strategies for Huntington’s disease. He was recruited in 2013 by the French Forensic Police as Head of Research & Development in Forensic genetics. He managed a team of technicians and engineers to develop innovative methods including DNA phenotyping and next-generation sequencing, applied to criminal investigations. Since 2020, he has been the DNA Database manager at the INTERPOL General Secretariat based in Lyon, in charge of the INTERPOL DNA Database & I-Familia, a new dedicated DNA database to identify missing persons globally using DNA from their relatives. François-Xavier Laurent has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in forensic and medical genetics fields over the past 10 years and has received several honors and awards, including the Interior Security Medal from the French Ministry of the Interior in 2018.