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Why isn't more done to help find missng people?
Molly Bloom
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The missing child who we can't talk about on here was in the papers AGAIN yesterday and every time it just makes me wonder why other missing people are treated like nothing in comparison?
I know a lot of it will have to do with resources. I'm sure we simply don't have enough to dedicate time and money to searching properly for the missing, but whenever one person is picked to be a poster child/person and gets ALL of the time, focus, and publicity it just seems wrong.
To spark any media interest whatsoever, it seems a missing person has to be a young, attractive, successful and popular person...and no one else matters. I know in part this is because there is a higher likelihood of foul play involved in their disappearance but the way everyone else is tossed aside in favour of this one type makes my blood boil to be honest.
I know a lot of it will have to do with resources. I'm sure we simply don't have enough to dedicate time and money to searching properly for the missing, but whenever one person is picked to be a poster child/person and gets ALL of the time, focus, and publicity it just seems wrong.
To spark any media interest whatsoever, it seems a missing person has to be a young, attractive, successful and popular person...and no one else matters. I know in part this is because there is a higher likelihood of foul play involved in their disappearance but the way everyone else is tossed aside in favour of this one type makes my blood boil to be honest.
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As a general rule of thumb it all depends on how many of the following boxes you tick:
-Girl
-Pretty
-Blonde
-Rich
-White
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome
I first heard of Elaine Harrison's case yesterday - via Twitter - despite the fact she's been missing since just before Christmas. I suppose because she's middle-aged the mainstream media just don't care. >:(
With regards to adults, when suspicious circumstances are supected there is publicity. Therefore, if a case isn't publicised, the police must suspect them leaving of their own free will or have a reasonable idea of why they are missing.
Are you suggesting that they are not therefore 'missing'?
I might have misunderstood what you mean there, if we dont know where they are, they are missing are they not?
I think the issue of missing people, whether they are children or adults is very difficult. As someone said above, there are people that go off and just dont want to let anyone know where they are and I always wonder how they manage after that, where do they live, what do they live on, how do they manage their phone and emails etc. What about their job?
You can't just keep looking forever. All police time would be taken up by missing people if that were the case.
And yeah, let's face it, some people are more interesting than others. Sad, but true.
You can change your name and stuff and just start over with everything
Your old phone and email ect you just forget about I suppose you have to rent a house as it's likely would would have enough cash to buy one and just take whatever job you can get.
What if you have gone missing to get away from them because they are abusive ect
When my Mum left my Dad he reported her missing even though he knew why she left.
How, when everything we do in life needs proof of id, NINO, bank statements etc etc
Worth watching if you're interested in the phenomenon. I think it's easy to be deceived by how this type of case is often portrayed in TV dramas or films.
As I said you just start over when I moved I left with nothing not even my Birth Certificate but I soon got everything sorted out and restarted under a new name.
Of course, not every missing adult is somebody who has done this, people go missing because of foul-play, illness, I'm sure there must be other reasons, and obviously police do their best to find people. If it were as simple as locating a person through their NI number, there wouldn't be so many missing people.
With minors, it's a completely different ball-game, of course.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/sep/16/campaign-unlock-secrets-missing-persons
Interesting article.
As a Nottingham resident, I will point out that there are lots of Elaine Harrison posters in the city
Don't think so, her sister made an appeal yesterday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25594535
Its almost as if people aren't entitled to their own privacy anymore, everything we do has to be logged, catalogued, and recorded.
A lot of those that do make it on TV are younger or have problems meaning that they're more likely to fall foul of predators so the police make the call to risk publicity to speed things up
Odd that although her medication mentioned (which from its description I doubt is urgently needed) but not her phone status.
Note that the two sisters have different surnames.
Sorry [delayed response due to going shopping!] I meant they are runaways who tend to come back within a few days.
Obviously that's not always the case and I would agree that there isn't always much publicity about them. However, if the police suspect somehting sinister (e.g. the teenager that went to France with her teacher) then there is the publicity.
Well just local to me I can think of David Spencer (13) and Patrick Warren (11) who have been missing since 1996 from their homes in Chelmsley Wood. Unfortunately, they don't/didn't have middle class doctors for parents.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/special-report-chelmsley-wood-families-167564