NPIA joins families of missing children to highlight International Missing Children's Day
18 May 2009
To raise awareness of children still missing in the UK, the National Policing Improvement Agency's Missing Persons Bureau is today staging a special event to mark International Missing Children's Day which takes place on 25 May. The missing Persons Bureau is working with police forces to build up a national picture of missing children across the UK from 2010. For further information contact the NPIA Press Office on 020 7147 8297//8424/8310/8308. If out of hours please call 07827 309 361. Notes to editors The organisation's creation in April 2007 streamlined and simplified the way that policing improvement is delivered locally and nationally. NPIA works for the police service and is governed by a tripartite board comprising ACPO, APA, Home Office and independent members. The ACPO President is a member of the NPIA Board. About International Missing Children's Day On 25th May 1979, a six-year-old boy, Etan Patz went missing in New York. He was never seen again, as a result of this NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) was established in the United States. In 1983 the President of the United States declared 25th May 'Missing Children's Day' and this has been followed ever since. The NPIA Missing Persons Bureau as the UK member of the Global Missing Children's Network (GMCN) is participating in the International Missing Children's Day (Bank Holiday Monday - 25th May) in co-ordination with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC Washington - USA) and other partners of the Global Missing Children's Network, Missing Children Europe and its associated Non Governmental Organisations are also involved. Tesco Stores has kindly agreed to support the distribution of wristbands and badges, bearing the 'Forget-Me-Not' logo of Missing Children Europe, in aid of two UK charities, Forever Searching and The Railway Children. Both charities work closely with the families of missing children and provide support in missing cases. These items will be available in stores from Friday, May 15. We also recognize the support we receive from the charity PACT, and the other partners for the Missing Kids website including Emcor, AMScreen Health and Computer Associates. These charities are just a few in the field of missing persons and our principle partner of course, is the charity Missing People. About the NPIA's Missing Persons Bureau The Missing Person's Bureau became part of the National Policing Improvement Agency in April 2008. It provides a free cross-matching service to police officers to assist with matching up details of missing persons cases with unidentified persons or body cases in the UK. It also: . Maintains a database of all persons reported as missing in the UK for 72 hours or more. For more information please go to:
Families and police forces involved in the investigations of missing children Madeleine McCann, Damien Nettles, Ben Needham, Katrice Lee and Paige Emily Chivers will unite on London's South Bank to urge people to remember missing children and encourage anyone with any information that could help find a missing child to contact the police.
Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, Chief Executive of the NPIA, said: "The trauma of a child going missing can be devastating for family and friends. We must do everything we can to minimise the risk.
"A lot of work has been done both in the UK and internationally to help find missing children, not only in the vital hours immediately after a child goes missing, but also in the days and weeks that follow. There is now better information sharing, and joint international working on investigations. We are also redeveloping the Child Rescue Alert system as a national scheme, which will quickly alert the public when children go missing. This alert will also be capable of being activated simultaneously across Europe."
Policing Minister Vernon Coaker said: "Most of us can only imagine the devastation that those whose children go missing must feel.
"I am encouraged to see how much work is already underway to protect children and support families through the NPIA's National Missing Person's Bureau, and also to improve co-ordination between the police and other agencies at home and abroad.
"It is vital that we do everything we can to raise awareness of this issue so that less people have to endure such a harrowing ordeal."
About the NPIA
NPIA is a single national organisation created to support effective policing. It provides expertise in areas as diverse as information and communications technology, support to information and intelligence sharing, core police processes, managing change and recruiting, developing and deploying people.
. all foreign nationals reported as missing in the UK.
. all UK residents reported as missing abroad.
. all unidentified bodies/persons found in the UK.
http://www.npia.police.uk/en/10200.htm
The Missing Person's Bureau manages the UK element of the Missing Kids website. The Missing Kids Website is a unique, state-of-the art tool designed to help the police recover missing and abducted children across the world. The UK website forms a chapter of ICMEC's global network of 17 counties. In the UK, it is a partnership between the police, the charity Parents and Abducted Children Together, and private sector partners, Tesco, Emcor, AMScreen Health, Tri Media, UK Media and Computer Associates. The Bureau is grateful for the support of its website partners.
For more information and case studies please go to: http://www.missingkids.co.uk/missingkids/servlet/PublicHomeServlet
