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.

Exact birthdate is a bit strange - although I suppose somebody might have gone missing just after their big 18th or 21st (or whatever) birthday party and giving their birthday might trigger the memory of other people who were at the same venue that night.

Also, things like height can't be told from a photo; or, say the person walks with a limp, has a very strong non-local accent or is a heavy smoker or something.

Unfortunately, it's usually necessary to breach certain aspects of somebody's privacy by publicising their personally identifying info in order to find them and get them back home safely.

I would advise your daughter to set her social media settings so that strangers can't message her.

This. She’ll likely be contacted by a decent amount of creeps now... missing people are considered vulnerable and vulnerable people attract weirdos.

Have the police removed the post now? My local force posts details to help people to try and find them, but deletes the post and replaces it with a “thanks for sharing our appeal to find Jane Doe, who has now been located” or some such afterwards.

It won’t help if her surname is unusual, but it does get rid of the photos and age.

If she’s finding the contact distressing, she could deactivate her profiles for a while. A few weeks would likely be enough for people to forget.

Because age is related to vulnerability?

A lost 8 yr old or 80 yr old is clearly more at risk of accident or harm.

Sorry but I'm inclined to think that if she didn't like it then that's too bad. She had the police and presumaby other public services out looking for her. What did she expect

so how would it go then OP?

Attention people: we are looking for a person. they might be male or female of any age, height, weight, hair & eye colour and nationality/ethnicity.
they might speak one or more of the roughly 6500 languages in the world.
they may or may not have distinctive features, injuries or medical issues.
we have no idea what they were wearing when they were last seen, nor location or time of last sighting.
they may or may not be armed.
oh and we can't disclose their name.
PLEASE look for this person and if you see them call Police hotline on a number we can't give you.

Yup, sorted

@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

I’m sure that would be the least of my concerns.

I'll be flamed for saying this but it really says something about you that your daughter went missing, your daughter was found alive (and presumably safe?), your daughter has shitty security settings on her social media (which is YOUR responsibility btw) and your response is to have a go at the police. Grow up and step up.

Yeah it’s standard practice. Mainly around identify confirmation and the need to find someone quickly and safely. Also the media wouldn’t use anything given to them without a full name and age.

If you don’t want your details releasing to the public don’t go missing from home. Conversely if I’d been abducted i’d prefer my full details to be released rather than Sarah from Leeds, if you see her let us know. I’d never be found.

Photos don’t always help find people.
I once did an appeal for a man who had wandered out of his home due to dementia and he was found because he crossed the road in front of a driver who heard the descriptive appeal on the radio (what he was wearing mainly). His family were very grateful thankfully.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Exact birthdate is a bit strange - although I suppose somebody might have gone missing just after their big 18th or 21st (or whatever) birthday party and giving their birthday might trigger the memory of other people who were at the same venue that night.

Also, things like height can't be told from a photo; or, say the person walks with a limp, has a very strong non-local accent or is a heavy smoker or something.

Unfortunately, it's usually necessary to breach certain aspects of somebody's privacy by publicising their personally identifying info in order to find them and get them back home safely.

It's usually to try and trigger memories in people. Like, I'd see a missing ad for someone and go "oh, they have my birthday" then, two days later I ID someone at work to check they're old enough to buy alcohol (imagine I'm a barmaid in this example), and on the ID I go "oh, we have the same birthday". Then something in me clicks, I connect the dots, I contact the police, the person is found. (It wouldn't need to be my birthday necessarily, it could be "oh, that's my sister's birthday" or "oh, that's my anniversary". It works for middle names too - I wouldn't necessary remember a James but I'd remember a James David if my son were called James David, or if my sons were called James and David (or my brothers etc). It just makes it more identifiable and memorable.

The police post as much detail as possible to maximise the chances of the missing person being found safe and well - particularly important when the missing person is a child. I’m sorry for your daughter but thank your lucky stars she has been found safe and well - some parents of missing children aren’t so lucky.

If she’s bothered about being found and contacted on SM she needs to name change and update her privacy settings. The police need to be able to do their job properly to ensure a good outcome when people are reported missing, I don’t think they have done anything wrong in the slightest.

“Canwe666

It’s a very uncommon surname. Yes I’m grateful for the police but I wish they hadn’t added so much details.“

I’m pretty shocked that you’ve posted this considering they presumably did their job and found your daughter. What on earth would you be saying if they hadn’t been so thorough and the worst happened? No good deed goes unpunished comes to mind.

@UhtredRagnarson

I’m being a dick on purpose.

That didn’t need explained. We knew.

She’d of also complained if they’d done nothing!

Have.

*explaining

Explained is fine. Hth.

@Checkingout811

Maybe it’ll teach her not to run off then and cause a police search!

Any number of reasons why a vulnerable person may go missing. Have some conpassion

@UhtredRagnarson that didn’t need explained? Really?

@Notaroadrunner ok 😂

[quote Checkingout811]@UhtredRagnarson that didn’t need explained? Really?[/quote]
Correct.

Is this helping you to feel like less of a dick @Checkingout811?

@UhtredRagnarson I don’t feel anything. It’s a post online. I can’t really bring it to change my feelings.
I see you’re really passionate about my spelling and grammar though so thought it best to point out your little faux pas. I know these things get you worked up.

So no, just as big a dick as before then

@UhtredRagnarson "That didn't need explained" makes NO sense. At all.

@MasterBeth

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.

Why have a photo? It would be invasive for people to see their picture and know what they look like when they return. The police should just say "Kevin Wilson has gone missing, please let us know if you see him." Maybe use a pseudonym for extra privacy

[quote ProbablyProbing]@UhtredRagnarson "That didn't need explained" makes NO sense. At all.[/quote]
It makes total sense. Did you not understand what it means?

Oh God I wrote that post without bothering to actually read beyond the first few posts. I'm really sorry OP that is a really crass post. I'm sorry about your daughter

@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

I think if you go missing, the last thing you'd be worried about is whether some random people know your age.