The police announce missing people in various parts of Finland every day. Sometimes, they have only been missing for a short while. The police never issue missing person reports unless they have serious grounds for it.
The police publish announcements of missing people every day. The publications can be broadly divided into two categories. There are people who have gone missing and have not been heard from in a long time. They have disappeared without a trace and have not been found, despite police investigations.
The second category includes people who have been missing for a very short time. People may wonder, ‘Why can’t a person go missing for a few hours? Why are the police looking for them already?’
Every case is assessed individually.
Missing people who need help
The police cannot disclose medical information about a missing person, but in most cases, the thing that connects them is that they are unable to take care of themselves for one reason or another.
Why do the police use public announcements when they are looking for people who have been missing for a short time? What is the benefit?
Sometimes missing people may travel long distances. For example, a person with memory loss could be in excellent physical condition and might ride a bike a long distance without a clear destination, or a young child may already know how to use public transport.
Finland’s climate also poses unique challenges for search operations. The heat of the summer and the cold in winter are particularly dangerous conditions for people who are unable to care for themselves. The dark season also makes searching more difficult.
The police have a variety of methods for searching for missing people. Dogs or drones may also be used to search the nearby area. If the missing person has travelled far, or if there is no precise information about where they went missing, tips from the public can help steer the search in the right direction.
260 kilometres away
Just recently, the police issued a report about a person who went missing in central Helsinki. The police conducted a search of the nearby area, before releasing a report and a photo of the missing person. By luck, a conductor on a long-distance train noticed the appeal and recognised the missing person from the photo in a newspaper. The person was sitting on the train, 260 kilometres from the place where they went missing.
The media help the police’s press releases to reach a wide audience. Short news stories about missing persons can be a hassle for journalists, as they often need to be updated quickly once the missing person has been found.
However, news reports are extremely important for ensuring that information reaches the very people who may have information about the whereabouts of missing people. For the same reason, it is very important to read news stories about missing persons.
“Tip-offs from the public can play a critical role in finding missing people and save lives. The police would like to thank both the media and the public for their active cooperation in the search for missing people. Every missing person has someone who loves them and wants them to come home," says Chief Inspector Mikko Minkkinen of the Helsinki Police Department's command centre.
