Lancashire Police launched over 25,000 missing persons investigations in four years

Lancashire Police launched over 25,000 missing persons investigations in four years, while the number of investigations opened spiked dramatically last year with almost 8,000 reports. Figures obtained exclusively by the Post show the number of missing persons investigations opened by the force over the last four fully recorded years, from 2019.

2022 was the highest recorded - with a total of 7,700 missing persons investigations launched by the force within the 12 months from January to December. Within that four year period, 94 investigations tragically resulted in a person being found dead. Between 2019 and 2022, Lancashire Police conducted enquiries into a total of 25,698 incidents where people in the borough were reported as missing. In 2021, police launched 6,719 investigations into missing people, 5,501 in 2020 and a further 5,778 back in 2019. The lowest recorded month was April 2020, weeks after the Covid-19 lockdown was introduced, with 269 investigations opened.

The figures obtained by Lancashire Police also outlined the number of active investigations which still remain ongoing and also the number of searches that resulted in a missing person being found dead. A case is considered 'closed' when the person is eventually located. From 2022, there are still six active investigations relating to missing people. There is also one outstanding active investigation ongoing from 2020. In 2022, the number of missing persons investigations that resulted in police sadly recovering a body was 23, with 27 in 2021, 18 in 2020 and 26 in 2019.

What did Lancashire Police say?

A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: “The police treat each missing persons case differently and the police response will depend on a number of factors. Every missing persons case is allocated to a police officer to obtain initial details and that officer and their supervisors will conduct a risk assessment to decide the correct response to each case. This will depend on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) age, vulnerability, physical or mental health conditions, time elapsed since last seen, circumstances of disappearance, whether the person has been missing before and previous behaviour whilst missing.

“Once the risk assessment has been completed the officers will ensure the correct resources are allocated to deal with the case, for lower risk cases it may be that the officer in charge will be asked to conduct enquiries to trace the missing person. Missing person enquires are carried out around the clock and cases will be handed from team to team to ensure the person is found as quickly as possible. In higher risk cases additional resources, including specialist Missing From Home Managers and Police Search Advisors will be contacted to give advice and support to the officers dealing with the case.

"In the most serious of cases detectives from the Force Major Investigation Team or specialist Police Search Teams will also be allocated to the case. Each case is reviewed on a regular basis for the most serious of these will be led by senior officers from the local policing area and Force Major Investigation Team.”

You can report a missing person by ringing police on 101 (dial 999 in an emergency) or in person at your local police station.