More than 500 people disappear from home every year with the phenomenon reaching huge proportions and the Police changing tactics and signing protocols.
From a few hours to weeks or months, minors to elderly people are reported missing from their homes or the shelters where they are hosted.
Frequently, mainly minors leave the shelters of the Social Welfare Services so the mechanisms for tracing them are now moving on the basis of a special protocol. There are also cases where some people disappear from the face of the earth and are never traced: either they were victims of criminal activity or they left Cyprus and gave no signs of life.
After the cases of women murdered by the serial killer, the police changed tactics, took measures and the situation improved. Today, separate bulletins are issued for missing persons, and when it comes to minors, an alarm is raised, child alerts are issued, and non-governmental organizations are mobilized.
As Kyriaki Lamprianidou, Assistant Director of the Crime Prevention Department, in charge of the Sub-Directorate for the Management of Vulnerable Persons at the Police Headquarters, said, the investigation/handling of missing persons’ cases is a high priority for the Police.
Upon receiving a report of a missing person, the Police will make a risk assessment and take immediate action to locate the missing person.
Particularly in cases of vulnerable persons, i.e. minors under 18 years of age, persons over 65 years of age and persons whose disappearance gives rise to reasonable suspicion that they have suffered harm or are victims of a criminal act, and persons over 18 years of age who have health or other problems that may cause harm to themselves, where timely identification is vital, the Police are immediately mobilized.
