Police in Tayside deal with 1,600 missing person cases

New figures have revealed there were more than 1,600 “missing” cases recorded by police in Tayside last year.

The statistics, from March 2016 to April 2017, were revealed in a report by Police Scotland, with nearly 22,000 individual investigations carried out across the country.

The data was presented by Police Scotland officers at the third International Conference on Missing Children and Adults taking place at Abertay University, Dundee.

Significantly, more than half of those who go missing do so repeatedly, with police chiefs thrashing out new approaches to tackle the issue.

Police Scotland assistant chief constable Andy Cowie said the statistics show the police need to do more to better understand the reasons why so many people go missing.

“People go missing for a broad range of reasons and usually voluntarily,” he said.

“But we also know that the majority of people who go missing are vulnerable. One of the challenges is working together to prevent people going missing in the first place.

“What our data tells us is that we need to do more. We are looking to work more with partners such as social carers and charities.”

Michael Whitford, chief inspector of the Divisional Coordination Unit in Tayside, said a new framework being trialled in Dundee may lead to a breakthrough in the way police deal with children who go missing while in care.

“We are working with Dundee City Council in order to best establish an alternative approach and I’m very glad to be a part of its evaluation,” he added.