Center for Problem-Oriented Policing

Appendix A: Summary of Responses to Missing Persons

The table below summarizes responses to missing persons, the mechanisms by which they are intended to work, the conditions under which they ought to work best, and some factors you should consider before implementing a particular response. It is critical that you tailor responses to local circumstances and that you can justify each response based on reliable analysis. In most cases, an effective strategy will involve implementing several different responses. Law enforcement responses alone are seldom effective in reducing or solving the problem.

Response No.	Response	How It works	Works Best If...	Considerations
General Considerations for an Effective Strategy
1	Collaborating with other agencies	Facilitates searches for, recoveries of, and prevention of missing persons.	. . . confidentiality issues are addressed in MOUs; participants meet regularly and share information and concerns; case information is shared with NCIC, NCMEC, and NamUs; custody order and protective orders are shared among involved agencies.	Determine if your collaboration is for services, training, or information exchange; assess agencies’ capacity for new referrals; ensure that collaborations cannot violate information privacy regulations or tribal sovereignty; avoid interagency conflicts through transparency and common goals.
2	Training police and other emergency response personnel	Increases under- standing of types of missing persons; improves searches, investigations, recov- eries, and prevention.	. . . training is relevant to all personnel and covers demographic factors.	Training will needto be updated and repeated.

Response No.	Response	How it works	Works best If . . .	Considerations
3	Educating the public	Promotes prompt reporting, improves information to aid search, and improves prevention.	. . . target audience includes high-risk groups such as schoolchildren, sex workers, and home- less persons; mes- sage extends beyond stranger abductions.	Too much information may either saturate the public and cause less attention to be paidto missing persons or inflate publicview of the frequency of rare typesof missing persons cases.
4	Mandating reporting of missing children	Requires reporting of missing children to NCMEC.	. . .missing children are reported in a timely manner.	A NCMEC case manage- ment teamwill work directly with the familyand the law enforcement agency investi- gating the case.
Specific responses to missing persons
5	Enhancing information gathered from reporting parties	Improves risk assess- ments and focuses search for missing persons.	. . . reporter is aided by a checklist based on memory recall science.	Requires ongoing communica- tion between reporter and police.
6	Enhancing case files	Increases likelihood of identifying miss- ing persons once located.	. . .file includes miss- ing persons report data (e.g., age, race, gender, location) as well as lengthof time missing; dental, DNA, and fingerprint infor- mation are collected whencase is active and shared with NCIC and NamUs.	Creating detailed reports and proactive plansis labor inten- sive; law enforcement may need to consult with forensic anthropologists, dentists, medical examiners, and fam- ily doctors.
7	Promoting the use of endangered- missing advisories	Increases likelihood of finding recently missing persons by widening andintensi- fying search.	. . . agreements exist between police and broadcasters for media alerts; alerts are localized.	Too many alertsmay reduce citizens’ vigilance; alerts have not been shownto be highly effective.

Response No.	Response	How it works	Works best If . . .	Considerations
8	Promoting the use of search and information technology	Increases likelihood of finding miss- ing persons and reduces searchtime; increases likelihood of returning located person home.	. . . electronic track- ing devices are properly maintained; information data- bases are updated.	Missing person can become separated from electronic tracking devices; widespread use of technology canbe costly.
9	Enlisting volunteers to support missing persons searches, investigations, and prevention	Increases likelihood of finding, recovering, and preventing missing persons by enhancing resources.	. . . volunteer pro- grams are estab- lished in advanceand include background checks, training, and proper management of volunteers.	Requires some additional expenditure to properly manage volunteer programs.
10	Providing families with information and support	Alleviates some of families’ anxiety.	. . . a designated liaison trained in emotional and legal issues of missing persons is assigned tothe family; other social services are available.	Police may not be able to meet allof families’ needs and desires.
11	Facilitating at-risk persons’ return home	Increases likelihood located missing per- son will be returned home safely and quickly.	. . . financial assis- tance is available for immediate and safe transportation.	Most relevant to cases in which missing personis located far from home.
12	Ensuring proper cancellation of resolved cases	Prevents wasting resources searching for missing persons who have already been located.	. . . family liaison or lead detective makes regular contact with family/reporter to update status; persons who report missing are strongly encouraged to report updates to police.	Requires expenditure of some resources to confirmthat missing person has actually beendiscovered/returned.