Scottish Missing Persons Week takes place from 28 May to 3 June 2018 to raise awareness of the scale and complex nature of the issue in Scotland’s communities.

During the week, Police Scotland will feature different aspects of missing persons and explain how the police approach works.

Officers will also aim to tackle some common misconceptions, such as the need to wait 24 hours before reporting someone missing (not true).

Some of the features during Scottish Missing Persons Week will be:

  • Q&A on social media with the National Missing Persons Unit
  • Long-term missing persons
  • What happens when you report someone missing
  • Dementia: how you can help
  • Specialist resources
  • New technologies: UAVs (drones).

The publication of the Police Scotland Missing Persons Annual Report 2017/18 (28 May 2018) and the relaunch of the partnership between Police Scotland and the charity Missing People will also take place during the week.

Scottish Missing Persons Week also aims to support the Scottish Government National Framework for Missing Persons in Scotland and to encourage a whole-community approach to missing persons.

Missing persons investigations are a priority for Police Scotland and nearly 23,000 investigations took place in 2017/18. Almost all of the investigations were successfully concluded (over 99%), but we know that every investigation is unique and can be a vulnerable time for the person who is missing. The full description of missing persons investigations in Scotland can be found in the Police Scotland Missing Persons Annual Report 2017/18.

Scottish Missing Persons Week is supported by the Scottish Government and the charity Missing People.

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.