Revealed: Police officers spend more time searching for missing people than fighting crime
A senior official revealed that frontline police spend more time searching for missing people than fighting crime.
Officials at some forces estimate that up to 30 percent of each shift is spent searching for missing people – while just 5 percent is spent investigating burglaries, thefts and other incidents.
Chief Inspector Alan Rhees-Cooper of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said the time spent searching for missing people varied by police force but was “significant” across the country.
“Emergency forces spend more time searching for missing people than solving crimes,” he added.
Mr Rhees-Cooper, chairman of the NPCC Police Missing Persons Group, conducted a “peer review” of a force where officers said they spend “between 25 and 30 per cent of their duty trips searching for missing people and less.” spend”. “More than 5 percent are responsible for solving crimes.”
He said: “This impacts on the frontline officers who deal with incidents, who also deal with your burglaries, robberies, domestic violence reports etc.”
Figures from the UK Missing Persons Unit show forces carried out 319,745 investigations in England and Wales in 2022-2023 – or 876 per day.
Senior official reveals frontline police spend more time searching for missing people than fighting crime (stock image)
Officials in some forces estimate that up to 30 percent of each shift is devoted to searching for missing people – while just 5 percent is spent investigating burglaries, thefts and other incidents (stock image)
Chief Inspector Alan Rhees-Cooper (pictured) of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said the time spent searching for missing people varied depending on police operations but was “significant” across the country.
Mr Rhees-Cooper, who has worked full-time on developing national missing persons strategies for the past five years, outlined two projects aimed at reducing the number of reports.
“We often receive reports from health and care facilities about patients going missing from hospital,” he said.
“A lot of these people don’t really miss people. Many of them go home – and if you go home, you are not a missing person.
“The question is which agency should visit the home address to make sure they are OK and to try to convince them to return for treatment.”
Second, many reports involve children missing from nursing homes or foster families.
Mr Rhees-Cooper said: “Sometimes these children weren't missing, they were just coming home late or just testing their limits.”
“We have trialled a new framework to ensure police only intervene when a child is at risk of significant harm or being exploited.”
Another area involves people who have simply decided to disappear, Mr. Rhees-Cooper said.
“Adults have the right to leave their families and start a new life elsewhere without the police trying to track them down,” he added.
“If I decided tomorrow to leave my wife and start a new life, it would actually be a violation of my human rights if the police started actively looking for me, especially if they advertised in the press.”
“We are not a search agency. “We are not there to find people who decide to leave their homes.”
Police should only intervene if a person is at risk, he added.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The Labor Party has no idea how to protect the public and reduce crime across the country. “They have effectively given up on law and order.”
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