Overview
Reporting someone missing to the Metropolitan, (London) police.
Article
Monday evening 5pm. There’s a phone call from my daughter she’s on her way home. She should be there in an hour so. She’ll phone me when she gets there.
This is good as I’m going over to see her, to pick up some of her stuff and her, to bring her to my house so that I can take her Bristol the next day.
Monday evening: 7.30pm. No phone call. So I ring her flat – answer phone. Ring her mobile – just the answer message – no reply.
Leave it until 8:30pm. I ring her flat – answer phone. Ring her mobile – just the answer message – no reply.
Maybe she’s seen a friend and is talking. Make myself a cup of tea.
9pm, 9:30pm, 10pm, 10.30pm. Ring her flat – still the answer phone. Ring her mobile – still the ‘leave a message’ message.
Now getting worried. The move to Bristol is important to her. She needs to be there to sign for her new apartment.
Paced around a little. Realised that the progamme ‘Without a Trace‘, a series about an FBI team investigating missing persons was on the TV.
No it’s OK. She’s seeing a friend. But, there was an actual murder in the street where she lived. Has she been in an accident.
Did the phones again. Just the ‘leave a message’ messages.
10.45 Phone. No reply.
Looked on the internet. Found the Metropolitan Police’s guide to reporting a missing person.
I’m English so made myself another cup of tea.
She’s OK. But is she.
11pm. Nothing. 11.15. Nothing.
Looked up her address. Then phoned the main police control room.
A very helpful, very sympathetic operator took my daughter’s details and my details. She explained to me that the police could not start an official missing person’s report until they had checked the person’s apartment.
This would mean I would have to go her to flat and if she did not answer the door the police would break in to make sure she was not ill or had fallen and knocked herself out.
I said I was sure that she would have phoned me if she had arrived home. I then asked how I would check if she had been in an accident, arrested or been a crime victim.
I was then questioned if I thought that there might be any reason that she might be arrested and did I think that she might be a victim
I was impressed by this as the operator was being very proactive if there were any other issues. I said there was not.
The operator then repeated, sympathetically, that she could not make a formal missing person’s report until the police had investigated her apartment. I said at this stage I didn’t want to as I’m convinced she would have been in contact if she’d arrived.
The operator then said she would make an incident report and pass that on to the local police, which was probably the best I could hope for at that time.
She then took a full description of more daughter.
She tried to comfort me saying that most people do turn up.
Sat down, made a cup of tea.
11.30pm. Nothing. 11.40pm. Nothing. 11.50pm. Nothing. Midnight. Nothing.
Should I get the police to break in. There was no point. She would have phoned. Reluctantly I decided I couldn’t do anything else that night, but wait.
Couldn’t concentrate. Just made another cup of tea and robotically watched a poor movie on the TV.
About 12.20 in the morning my daughter phoned. She’d left her phone at a friend’s place, but did not know which one. So she’d travelled to see her friends to try and find it.
I was relieved, but angry.
I phoned the police and got talking to a different operator. Again I was impressed as I was thoroughly questioned that my daughter was alright and safe.
It then took me about two hours to settle myself down before I went to bed.
Conclusion
The calibre of the Metropolitan Police’s control room has vastly improved. I was treated sympathetically, but the operators were on the alert for potential crimes and to protect potential victims.
In this way the police can pick up a hidden agenda behind a call, such as an abusive partner saying his girlfriend, wife, is missing, when she is really trying to escape.
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