Behind the tape
Expert advice to get the details right in your crime fiction, from serving police officer Lisa Cutts
Lisa Cutts
QWhat are the standard police procedures and approach for dealing with a missing person inquiry? For example, a young person hasn’t come home and the parents can’t locate them. What would officers be looking for and how would they proceed?
David Laws, by email
A Unless or until someone’s safety and their whereabouts can be ascertained, they should be treated as a missing person and all inquiries followed. It’s obviously very difficult to locate everyone in an acceptable time frame as thousands of people are reported missing every day. Many turn up safe and sound, but some sadly don’t.