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how-can-we-find-them.html
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<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/animated.css">
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<meta property="og:url" content=https://pasitk.github.io/missing-tracks/how-can-we-find-them.html" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:title" content="Missing Tracks : How can we find them?" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Each missing persons case is unique. Factors such as risk, age, location, time missing, reason for going missing and so on will determine the urgency of the response and the method." />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://pasitk.github.io/missing-tracks/img/cover-4.png" />
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<title>Missing Tracks : How can we find them?</title>
</head>
<body class="body-content-page" id="body-page-4">
<header>
</header>
<div class="story bg-img lead">
<div class="lead-inside" id="lead-4">
<h1>How can we find them?</h1>
<p>Each missing persons case is unique. Factors such as risk, age, location, time missing, reason for going
missing and so on will determine the urgency of the response and the method.</p>
</div>
<div class="credit">
Photo: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/adventure-city-country-destination-240834/" target="_blank">'Lorenzo' on pexels.com</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="story bg-color black-85">
<div class="content-wide-75 text-on-translucent">
<p>A case where a toddler has been abducted 24 hours previously in a city centre will be treated very
differently to that of a dementia patient who has been missing in a rural location for some time. All
cases are worth looking into. Even in situations where a person has chosen to go missing for a new life
or because they feel they’re in danger from people around them, it can also be crucial to track those
people to ensure they have adequate protection and that they are no longer at risk.
</p>
<p>Methods for tracking people are incredibly varied and differ according to country and police force. The
charity Missing People goes to great lengths to assist the UK police in tracing lost persons. Most
people who go missing across the UK are found safe and reasonably well but for some they are simply
nowhere to be found and the cost of looking for them becomes sadly too great.
</p>
<p>New technologies can transform the job of tracking missing persons with organisations such as <a
href="https://www.tracelabs.org/" target="_blank">Trace Labs</a> using volunteers and open source
intelligence. Other forms of technology such as facial recognition are criticised as an intrusion from a
totalitarian regime-like state.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="story bg-color with-vis content-box-type-3 how-can-find-1">
<div class="content-normal">
<p>
Most missing people are found safe and sound within <a
href="https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/faqs.html" target="_blank">72 hours</a>,
according to the organization Missing People. These first hours are fundamental to ensuring the person’s
well-being, but also to protecting the integrity of any evidence and preventing potential crimes such as
kidnapping or murder.
</p>
<p>In the case of adults, investigators try to assess if the person was behaving normally days before going
missing. For children, they consider if the child could have been abducted or if he or she could be in
imminent danger. While most cases will settle within those first few hours, others can take longer to
resolve.
</p>
<p>There are no major differences between the duration of the disappearances in the case of children or
adults, as the most recent <a
href="http://missingpersons.police.uk/en-gb/resources/downloads/missing-persons-statistical-bulletins">report
from UK police reflect</a>. Almost half of missing adults (45%) and missing children (47%) are found
within the first 8 hours. Another 12% of adults and 10% of children will be found within the first week
and only 6% of grown-ups and 3% of minors will be found in a period longer than a week.
</p>
</div>
<div class="content-normal content-box-type-1 white-100">
<p>
<iframe title="Duration of missing incidents" aria-label="chart" id="datawrapper-chart-hvWiy"
src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hvWiy/5/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"
style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="433"></iframe>
<script type="text/javascript">
! function () {
"use strict";
window.addEventListener("message", (function (a) {
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</script>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="story bg-color with-vis how-can-find-2 content-box-type-3">
<div class="content-normal content-box-type-1 white-100">
<p>
<iframe title="Who finds missing people" aria-label="Grouped Bars" id="datawrapper-chart-gArah"
src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gArah/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"
style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="554"></iframe>
<script type="text/javascript">
! function () {
"use strict";
window.addEventListener("message", (function (a) {
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</script>
</p>
</div>
<div class="content-normal">
<p>While some missing people will decide to return home, others will be found by their carers, the police or
family and friends. One in four children in England and Wales will decide to go back home after a few
hours or days. For adults, this number goes down to one in five. When this is not the case, most
children are found by the police (34%) or their families (18%). Only a small number are found by their
friends (2.5%). The police is the one that brings more adults back home (more than 50% of those located
), followed by their families and friends (13%).
</p>
<p>
Some missing persons can end up abroad, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and that’s when
international organizations such as Interpol come into play. Local authorities can publish a Yellow
Notice for a missing person. These notices are global alerts that get sent to Interpol’s member
countries and, in some cases, made public on their website.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="story bg-color black-85">
<div class="content-wide-75 text-on-translucent">
<p class="sub-topic how-can-find-1">
The Police Response
</p>
<p>
<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay"
src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/784515565&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe>
<div
style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/missing-tracks" title="Missing Tracks" target="_blank"
style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Missing Tracks</a> · <a
href="https://soundcloud.com/missing-tracks/when-someone-is-reported-missing-whats-the-response-sam-roberts-north-wales-police"
title="When someone is reported missing what's the response? - Sam Roberts, North Wales Police"
target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">When someone is reported missing
what's the response? - Sam Roberts, North Wales Police</a></div>
</p>
<p class="sub-topic how-can-find-1">
Found yet never claimed
</p>
<p>
The Missing Persons charity provides another service: a heartbreaking <a
href="https://www.missingpersons.police.uk/en-gb/case-search/" target="_blank">gallery</a> of people
who have been found dead yet never identified. The profiles of these people are a final plea to anyone
who knows them - or once did. Described objectively by their physical features some of the profiles
contain photographs of items which were found with the body - shoes, belts, jewelry, trinkets or
religious items. Behind an online warning many include photographs of the bodies themselves.
</p>
<p>There is something deeply sad around the stories of people nobody seems to be looking for. The stories
behind them tragic, stories it’s likely no one will ever know.</p>
<p class="sub-topic how-can-find-1">
New Ways to Find Missing People
</p>
<p>One of the newest and most controversial techniques being considered for use in looking for missing
people is facial recognition technology. This biometric software uses CCTV in public places to identify
anyone in its range of vision. Just as the latest iPhones can be unlocked with their owner’s face,
facial recognition used in public places can identify individuals.
</p>
<p>
This technology reads key points on a human face before translating that data into a unique numerical
code or ‘faceprint’. The software then compares that faceprint to a database which holds photos of
people’s faces from platforms such as Facebook or from photographs taken at border controls. Once a
match is found the software can bring up personal data on an individual such as their name and address.
</p>
<p>
In England and Wales facial recognition software has been trialled on several occasions. Police
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/11/met-police-deploy-live-facial-recognition-technology"
target="_blank">facial recognition</a> vans and CCTV cameras have been set up in city centres and <a
href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-49369772" target="_blank">shopping
districts</a> and at <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/12/anger-over-use-facial-recognition-south-wales-football-derby-cardiff-swansea"
target="_blank">football matches</a>. The reasons given for using the software tend to centre on
looking for criminals, finding missing persons and dispelling violent outbreaks. However not everyone
feels that the benefits outweigh the potential risks to privacy and the gravitation towards surveillance
states.
</p>
<p>
At a facial recognition trial in East London, the director of <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/11/met-police-deploy-live-facial-recognition-technology"
target="_blank">Big Brother Watch</a>, Silkie Carlo, protested in front of the police van that was
monitoring people’s faces. In an interview with The Guardian, Carlo explained that if facial recognition
in public places was not challenged at an early stage we would soon see it rolled out on general CCTV
networks. The opposition to this technology is rooted in privacy concerns and fear of an invasive
authoritarian society imagined in dystopian satires such as 1984. These projections are not limited to
literature however: in China facial recognition technology has been used by the government to publicly
shame people for wearing pyjamas in public, for jaywalking and other so-called ‘uncivilized behaviours’.
</p>
<p>
When it comes to searching for missing people facial recognition technology could prove to be
invaluable, providing those concerned have not intentionally gone missing for their own safety. However
there remains a risk that the positive aspects of the software may very well be a Trojan Horse housing a
totalitarian police state.
</p>
<p>
“If it’s a tool to find people, then great, but there are also the ethical issues that come with that”,
says Professor Karen Shalev Greene, director of the Centre for the Study of Missing Persons at the
University of Portsmouth. While most experts have their concerns about facial recognition, other
technologies like GPS trackers and drones are widely supported.
</p>
<p>
GPS trackers, for example, could be a really convenient tool for people with dementia. These people
could wear necklaces or watches so that their families can follow their daily activities and be alerted
if they go missing. Then fewer families would have to report cases to the police and actions could be
taken earlier on if they go missing. However, as Shalev Greene explains, this should only be done with
the permission of the person involved.
</p>
<p>
“The issues come when they are so confused that they cannot consent, but then you can also have the
discussion within the family between getting their consent or keeping them alive”, she explains.
“Personally I think it’s a family decision. I would make that decision for my mother or my grandmother”.
</p>
<p>
The use of drones is another technique that the Centre for the Study of Missing Persons is looking at.
They are much cheaper than a helicopter and can reach remote areas easily. They also don’t invade
anyone's privacy.
</p>
<p>
Online communities and apps are also gaining popularity as a means to find missing people. There are
around a dozen Facebook groups for finding people in the UK. <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/333347613355260/?ref=group_browse" target="_blank">Missing
People UK</a>, for example, has more than 16,000 members and <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/679622948797094/?ref=group_browse" target="_blank">Missing
Persons South Wales</a> almost 10,000. These online communities in social media are key to resolving
some missing cases. Each day, people from all across Britain publish pictures and information about
missing persons and help each other with clues and psychological support.
</p>
<p>
Apps like <a href="https://global.nextdoor.com" target="_blank">Nextdoor</a>, a hyperlocal social media,
also help keep neighbourhoods safe and connected. Users of this app submit their real names and
addresses and get connected with other users living nearby. Posts are only shared within the same
neighbourhood and people can ask all sorts of questions: from restaurant recommendations to missing
people.
</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI" target="_blank">Reddit Bureau of Investigation</a> (RBI) is
also a popular subreddit within Reddit. With more than 260,000 users, this subreddit “uses the power of
the Internet to solve real world problems”. Although some Redditors are doubtful about how useful it can
actually be. “Reddit only ever makes things worse”, a user argued on the forum. “Nobody here has any
special technology or equipment, it’s just a bunch of regular people trying to make sense of things. In
terms of missing people and actual crimes, Reddit as a whole either does nothing or makes things worse.
There are some very rare exceptions, obviously”, another user explained.
</p>
<p>
The rules in the RBI are simple. The first is that any criminal matters need to be handled by the
police. “RBI is made of a bunch of volunteers who live all over the place. The police are the only ones
who can help you with criminal matters. If you have a criminal matter, please contact the police. After
the police have fully conducted their investigation or if the investigation has gone cold, you can ask
the people of r/RBI”, as the moderators state in the rules’ section.
</p>
<p>
They also ask people to share personal information only through private messages and to avoid doxxing,
an Internet-based practice of researching and publicly broadcasting or identifying information about an
individual or organization.
</p>
<p>
Even if these groups often have limited results, when the missing cases are no longer investigated by
the police, these online platforms are the only way to keep the hopes of families and friends alive.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>