Almost 70 per cent of people who are reported as missing are found within the first 24 hours. With every hour that passes after that, the chances of them being found decreases significantly. A tiny minority of those who are reported as missing – around 1% – are still missing after 28 days. These long-term missing people are rarely found.
Nearly a quarter of a million people went missing across the country during 2019-20, 50,000 of whom went missing in London. However, the vast majority of these missing people returned home, as reported by the Missing Person Unit. Over 66 percent of missing person cases are solved within the first 24 hours, and the first three days after a person is reported missing are the most crucial. The longer the person is missing with no contact, the lower the chances of the missing person returning home.
Each missing person’s case is handled uniquely due to the many variables to consider, but all police forces across the UK, including the Met, must follow guidelines set by the College of Policing for missing person cases. Below is a timeline of the common steps taken by police units when investigating a missing person case.
12:00 AM missing person is reported
A person (usually a family member or friend) contacts the police to report that someone has gone missing. The police ask a range of questions to understand any possible reasons for their disappearance. For example, they ask if the disappearance is out of character or if it is recurring. The police also research the person’s whereabouts, so they might look at CCTV footage, search their house and the last area they were seen. They then determine whether a person is to be recorded as missing, a process that could include instances of bias. Research has shown that cases including people who experience “transient lifestyles” like homelessness, sleeping rough and substance abuse are more likely to be dismissed. Dave Grimstead, founder of Locate International, and former detective inspector, says that it heavily depends on what “the person reporting it [the case] thinks happened.” Grimstead mentioned a case where a mother reported her adult son to be missing and was concerned as it was very out of character, but the police didn’t consider it. “So, you’ve got a situation where the mother said something’s wrong, and the police dismiss it. Yet The police risk assessment says that that should be treated as treated seriously regardless of the circumstances,” Grimstead says.
8:00 AM Police decide on the risk category
The police must decide, through the initial assessment after the police report, if the case is of high, medium or low risk. Specifically, if the person is at a risk of harming themselves or the public. This stage is very crucial, says Dave Grimstead, and how a case is categorized heavily determines what resources are applied to address the case. Grimstead says that while the official policy may be clear on how to assess a case, instances of bias can lead to mistakes. Gender, social class, and whether the missing person has a criminal record can impact how police officers view, and then assess, a missing person case. When men go missing after a night out, for instance, they are often not seen to be at high risk, but women are. “It doesn’t really fit with the policy because the policy doesn’t mention [it], but in the minds of policemen that’s how they respond because what you see in the media…Everything hangs on a bias, so the policy is supposed to strip that… but it doesn’t happen,” he says.
The next 24 hours make or break the case
If a case is assessed as high risk, it gets escalated to a critical incident manager, who is responsible for overseeing the search. A case can also get allocated to a trained lost person’s search manager, who is specifically trained to coordinate the search. High risk cases generally receive resources to enable technical support such as telephone tracking. “What you have in each police force is people who are trained to search for people in high-risk cases,” including different environments.
In London, there are also search and rescue teams who specialise in specific environments such as the Thames and can understand where a body might be found depending on the tides. Medium risk cases get a “scaled down response” says Grimstead. The police may not use phone tracking, but they will circulate information on police radios to other units or try to garner attention on media outlets, as well as more recently, sharing on social media.
The Next Week
If the police investigation is unable to find proof of life after the first seven days, the case continues to escalate due to the corresponding increase in risk. If the case remains unsolved after seven days, it is then reviewed by a senior officer, where it gradually gets escalated to see if more resources can be deployed. After the 28 days mark, all cases become long-term missing. No matter how initially assessed, all long-term missing persons cases should be ideally reviewed by an experienced detective, according to Grimstead.