Police investigations of missing persons

Each year the police receive thousands of missing persons reports. Many of these reports concern persons who disappear voluntarily and who are not atrisk. On the other hand, in a number of cases an immediate police response is required because the missing person became the victim of an accident orcrime, or might be in a life-threatening situation.Hence, one of the main challenges for the police is to determine which disappearances require an immediate police response and which do not. Also each year bodies are found of persons who can't be identified,most of them registered as a missing person in their country of origin.Police Investigations of Missing Persons presents an overview of information available on the subject of missing and unidentified persons that may be used toachieve a more efficient police response to missing persons reports and to the challenge of establishing the identity of unknown deceased persons. The information presented in this book is based on data from scientific research as well as on police experience in missing persons investigations. The oft-applied rule of thumb that the police should wait a certain amount of time (usually 24 or 48 hours) before taking action can be fatal for the missing person. Risk assessment is an essential part of any efficient procedure used to processmissing persons reports. It should ensure that police response is focused on those disappearances in which the missing person is at serious risk and/or the victim of a crime, whereas the time spent on disappearances of a non-serious nature should be minimal. The application of modern identification techniques, and the international exchange of information on missing and unidentified persons, is also essential in solving many of the sometimes long-term cases of missing persons.This book also provides information on various subjects of relevance for the missing and unidentified persons problems such as:* the juridical aspects;* the national and international registration systemsused by police forces;* research data on the various types of disappearancesof children, adolescents and adult persons;* data on abduction and (sexual) crimes against youngpersons;* data on intimate partner killing;* how to deal with the partner and relatives themissing person left behind;* identification and search techniques;* how to estimate the reliability of reports of witnesseswho claim to have seen the missing person;* how to deal with psychics when the relatives accepttheir involvement.A model of a brochure with information for the relatives who report the disappearance is included.This book is primarily written for anyone within the police force who has to deal with missing and unidentified persons. The information may contribute to the development of a police procedure for handling missing persons reports in countries or jurisdictions that do not yet have such a procedure in place. This book is also useful for organizations, aid workers, officials andothers in society who become involved with the consequences of a disappearance and the emotional and practical problems of the relatives who stay behind