Passersby in Shaw may come across a lawn full of signs displaying the names of children who have gone missing in D.C.

The outdoor display is located at Shiloh Baptist Church on the corner of 9th and P Streets NW.

“Our children are so vulnerable and have so few protections that we think as a church, we ought to do what we can to stand alongside them and keep them as safe as possible,” Dr. Wallace Charles Smith, the church’s senior minister, told WSUA 9.

The local awareness campaign comes after D.C. Police began increasing its use of social media to publicize missing person reports. However, the uptick in posts led some to believe that the number of missing youths had increased, which officials say is not the case.

On March 12, The Root published an article titled “Does Anyone Care About DC’s Missing Black and Latinx Teens?” Outlets like Essence Magazine, Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, and other news media posted similar articles in the following days.

In response to the growing concerns, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham, and other D.C. officials held a press conference on March 16.

Newsham, who Mayor Bowser nominated to become D.C. Police’s permanent leader, said that missing person reports have gone down so far in 2017.

Out of more than 700 cases that were reported this year as of March 16, Newsham said 34 remained open. However, D.C. Police have tweeted more people who have gone missing and been found since then.

Shiloh’s yard signs, which have been up since Sunday, display the names of children and dates they went missing, which are printed on top of black silhouettes. The names include recent cases and those that stretch further including Relisha Rudd, who was eight years old when she went missing in 2014.

“Even if we don’t make a huge dint, at least we’ve made a statement,” Dr. Smith said about the signs.

Filed Under: church, dc police, missing girls, missing teens, mpd, shiloh baptist church, signs,