To wonder why the police always put the age of people in missing posts

[Canwe666]

Sometimes even full date of birth. I can understand under 18 but once people are adults age doesn’t have as much bearing. Also putting peoples full name.

So you know roughly how old the person would look??

Why wouldn't they? People need to know if they are looking out for a 30 yr old or a 70 yr old.

They usually include pictures though so mostly you would estimate from that.

To make them identifiable? Presumably fewer Geoff Michael Wilsons around than Geoff Wilsons? (made-up name). They might be going by or known as their middle name. If you know a Geoff Wilson who is 60 if he's a day, no way could he be the "missing" 29-year-old Geoff Wilson.

To give the general public an idea of what to look out for. White male, 6ft, wearing a black jacket and jeans could be 21, 35, 50 or any age really.

I’m just thinking it’s quite invasive for the person who is missing when they return as they usually do to have all those details posted about them

What an odd post

I think it's useful
Yes there'll be a picture but many people look older than they are or younger than they are

Age is a very important part of someone's identity. As is height, weight, hair colour, skin colour. It would be a bizarre thing to leave out of a description of someone missing. Are people that ashamed of their ages?

Well that’s what happens when you go missing 🤷‍♀️

@Canwe666

They usually include pictures though so mostly you would estimate from that.

But isn't it better to not have to guess? I can look a lot older or a a lot younger in a photo, depending on the photo.

Why do they even put a description of them when there’s a photo? It should just be a photo, no name, no age, no nothing.

If someone is missing and needs to be found I don't think anyone is going to be worrying about giving out these details. The more information they can give the better chance of finding them.

@Canwe666

I’m just thinking it’s quite invasive for the person who is missing when they return as they usually do to have all those details posted about them

No more invasive than having their picture posted publicly along with their last known movements and the fact that they’re vulnerable or unwell as well as missing.

I’m just curious as if I was looking for a missing person I would think about what they looked like in the photo not there actually age

Some people don’t have photos taken of them regularly.
The more detail the better chance of finding the person. This is a very odd post.

Sometimes the most recent photo available is actually quite old and the person is maybe 5 or 10 years older now so photos can’t be tried on alone to identify a missing person.

There must be a personal reason that the OP has posted this. It's a very odd thing to worry about when a person is missing.

There's also a chance someone could have seen them, chatted to them and found information. The more information available about a missing person the better- why would they hide info like that?

Yes the police have done it when my daughter is missing. She was very upset when personal details had been given in public. Especially her surname as it’s common and she actually had messages from strangers after her name had been made public.

Sorry her surname is uncommon so she was easily located on social media

But without those details how would anyone identify her? If someone saw her and had to double check it was her before calling the police, they'd have no way to confirm it was her.

If she's still bothered by it put her socials on private settings- it was for her own good and will calm soon.

Suggest your daughter updates her privacy settings so that strangers can’t message her.

So what would you prefer, OP? How are they supposed to get the message out there ?

"Keep an eye open for a missing woman. Here's her picture. We're not telling you her name, her age, what she looks like or even where in the country she's from".

Yeah that's going to work.

She’s even had a message from a man saying how attractive she is. I think her first name was fine and her picture but don’t see what benefit her last name is.