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britains-missing.html
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<html lang="en">
<head>
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<meta property="og:title" content="Missing Tracks : Britain's Missing" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Someone is reported missing every 90 seconds in the UK, according to the British charity Missing People. This figure is frequently mentioned to point to the problem of disappearances in the country, but can this number be true?" />
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<title>Missing Tracks : Britain's Missing</title>
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<h1>Britain's Missing</h1>
<p>Someone is reported missing every 90 seconds in the UK, according to the British charity Missing People.
This figure is frequently mentioned to point to the problem of disappearances in the country, but can
this number be true?</p>
</div>
<div class="credit">
Photo: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-person-walking-on-road-1236701/"
target="_blank">'Leo Cardelli' on pexels.com</a>
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<div class="story bg-color white-100 with-vis">
<div class="content-text-black">
<p>Adults that leave their homes without a trace, children that go missing from care or teenagers that flee
home are just some of the scenarios behind the increasing numbers of people reported missing in the UK.
However, experts consider the real figures are likely to be higher. "We think there is quite a bit of
underreporting and that there is part of the population that won't report people that go missing", says
Professor Karen Shalev Greene, director of the <a
href="https://www.port.ac.uk/research/research-centres-and-groups/centre-for-the-study-of-missing-persons"
target="_blank">Centre
for the Study of Missing Persons</a> from the
University of Portsmouth.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/about-us/about-the-issue/research/76-keyinformation2.html"
target="_blank">90-second statistic</a> comes from the 365,000 missing incidents recorded annually
by the police across the United Kingdom. However, not all of these calls lead to a missing person case
being opened and they also include repeated incidents. Missing People estimates that individual cases
amount to 186,000 every year.</p>
</div>
<div class="content-normal content-box-type-2">
<iframe title="Missing-related calls recorded by police forces" aria-label="Map"
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<div class="content-normal">
<p>Even though the counting is imperfect, it still reflects a real problem. "If you don't search, you might
not necessarily find. The UK authorities say that every life matters and it's the responsibility of the
state to safeguard people", Shalev Greene declares.</p>
<p>Following the trail within 8 hours of the person going missing can lead to more clues and can be key as
well in cases involving high-risk individuals like children and teenagers, a group that in England and
Wales represents more than half of the reported incidents. During 2016-2017, almost 180,000 incidents
were recorded involving minors, 63% of the total cases. Other vulnerable groups are those who have
dementia or mental health problems.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="story bg-color with-vis white-100">
<div class="content-text-black">
<p>Being part of an ethnic minority can be linked with a higher likelihood of going missing. The latest
report (2016-17) from the UK's agency for missing people, the <a
href="http://missingpersons.police.uk/en-gb/resources/downloads/missing-persons-statistical-bulletins"
target="_blank">Missing Persons Unit (UKMPU)</a>, shows that
Black and Middle Eastern are the two ethnicities that go missing most often in England and Wales. This
conclusion comes after we have considered the percentage of <a
href="https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest"
target="_blank">population</a> they constitute: 3% and 0.4%
respectively. </p>
<p>Men are also more likely to go missing and account for almost 54% of cases compared to women (45%) and
trans people (approximately 0.1%). Shalev Greene says that this imbalance is due to middle-age men
often
not having the social support that women tend to have and being less willing to talk to their friends or
communicating their problems.</p>
</div>
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<p>This view is shared by Professor Hester Parr, from the University of Glasgow and leader of the project
<a href="https://geographiesofmissingpeople.org.uk" target="_blank">'Geographies of Missing People'</a>,
who bases her research completely on adults. "We focused on adults
because there was hardly any research about them. Most research is based on children because they go
missing in much bigger numbers".</p>
<p>While most people will be found within the first 72 hours of going missing, other cases can take two
years or more. As Dr Shalev Greene explains, UK police work on the basis that missing cases can result
in
homicide and try to solve the cases right away. However, there are other crimes that could happen if
quick action is not taken, such as trafficking, exploitation, slavery or abduction.
</p>
<p>
For the fiscal year ending in March 2017, the number of people that went missing for more than seven
days was 8,075, a figure that doesn’t include an important number of British constituencies and that
only looks at resolved cases. It’s also hard to estimate the number of people that will walk out the
door again. According to UKMPU statistics, almost half the incidents that happened during those years
were attributable to repeats, rising to 63% in the case of children.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="story bg-color with-vis white-100">
<div class="content-text-black">
<p>In addition to the human cost and family tragedy that these disappearances represent, the economic cost
of missing incidents has also been the subject of debate. The Centre for the Study of Missing Persons
estimates that 800 million pounds are spent annually trying to find missing people. Dr Shalev Greene
explains that these numbers "can vary incredibly” depending on the case. While low-risk cases can cost
from £500 to £1,000, high-risk cases can reach £8,000.
</p>
<p>
A <a href="http://missingpersons.police.uk/en-gb/resources/research/cost-of-missing-investigations"
target="_blank">
research</a> produced by professors Shalev Greene and Carol Hayden in June 2013 estimated
£1,325.44 as a realistic minimum and £2,415.80 as a realistic estimate of cost of medium-risk
medium-term cases, a higher number than what it was assumed before. Their research was based on a survey
of 407 officers and staff in two UK forces and a realistic case assessment undertaken by 33 officers in
two UK forces.
</p>
<p>
“It demonstrates that missing person investigations are a bigger drain on police resources then either
theft or assault. This result is placed into context of current developments such as the commodification
and the outsourcing of policing tasks and recent changes in policy involving missing person
investigations”, the UKMPU explains in their website.
</p>
<p>Dogs, divers and helicopters are some of the most common methods for searching for missing people.
Putting a helicopter up in the air can cost around 1,000 pounds per hour and investigations can run for
several weeks.
</p>
<p>
Parr considers that "it makes more sense to be preventive when people come back in order to avoid
repeats". She says it's impossible to pick just one case that has left a mark or encouraged her
research. "I was very driven to appreciate and learn from every story that I came across with".
</p>
<p>
The UK, a country where missing cases are "taken seriously" according to Shalev Greene, has suffered
a continuous increase in reported disappearances over the last few years.
</p>
<p>The number of children that were reported missing in 2016-17 increased by 21% in England and Wales
compared to the year before, while in the case of adults the rise was 12%. The numbers are also higher
than those in European countries. "I think the UK is ahead. The amount of missing cases is higher here
and it's not because it happens more here, but because there is a social value: we take missing
seriously", Shalev Greene concludes.</p>
</div>
<div class="content-normal content-box-type-2">
<iframe title="Number of calls recorded regarding missing incidents" aria-label="Interactive line chart"
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<div class="story bg-color black-100">
<div class="content-wide-75">
<p>There are no EU figures on how many people go missing in Europe. However, projects like <a
href="https://lost.team" target="_blank">LOST</a> are pushing
for the creation of a platform to share this kind of data, as well as prevention measures and techniques
of search. For the moment, national statistics portals, police and ministries of European member states
are releasing their data unilaterally.
</p>
<p>For example, in Spain 202,529 missing incidents were registered since 2010, according to the report
<a href="https://cndes-web.ses.mir.es/publico/Desaparecidos/en/" target="_blank">'Missing People in
Spain'</a>
published in 2020. From those, 5,529 were still active as of December 31,
2019, a 9% of the total.
</p>
<p>Listening to those who come back and working closer with their families can be the key to fighting this
crisis and making sure that those who are found or who return by themselves don't decide to walk out the
door again.
</p>
<p>
Unless the case involves children or minors, there is suspicion that a serious crime has been committed,
an accident occured, the person is at risk of suicide or requieres medication, it is very unlikely that
an official search will be carried out. Therefore, some people can't be forced back home.
</p>
<p>
Organizations like Missing People keep a list of people from all over the UK who have gone missing and
have not been found. Accompanied with a photograph, they provide information on when and where the
person went missing as well as a number where this person can call to ask for help or to pass a message
to their family and friends.
</p>
<p>
According to their listing, there are approximately 130 people that haven been missing for 1 to 3 years,
while more than 450 people left their homes more than three years ago. The UKMPU doesn't provide numbers
on long-term cases. However, Scotland's Missing Person Unit, stated in 2017 that more than <a
href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-41164775" target="_blank">730 people</a> in
the country are classed as long-term missing.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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