Missing Persons Bureau

We support and improve the services provided to missing person investigations by working alongside the police and related organisations, helping them to improve both efficiency and effectiveness.

By email: Missing Persons Bureau

Telephone: +44 (0) 8450 005481

Information for the public

Members of the public can find out more about how to report someone missing, report a sighting and see some of the more frequently asked questions by clicking here. You will also find a series of factsheets aimed at the families and friends of missing persons. The factsheets cover subjects such as what to do when someone goes missing, how to find support and what the police are likely to do.

To report a sighting, members of the public should call the 24 hour Missing People charity Freefone number 0500 700 700

Information for Police

Information for police can be accessed here. Police officers should join the Missing Persons Bureau community on the secure Police OnLine Knowledge Area (POLKA) website. You'll be able to access notification forms, guidance, practice advice and publications to help resolve your missing person investigations.

If you are a police officer investigating a missing person/unidentified body case, you may find the following SOCA services useful:

Specialist Operations Centre: The Specialist Operations Centre can assist you with covert policing, major crime, witness intermediaries and the policing of pre-planned events and major incidents.

National Injuries Database: The National Injuries Database (NID) is a unique national resource to support serious crime investigations for the analysis of weapons and wounds.

National Fingerprint Database: The National Fingerprint Database (IDENT1), provides the Police service in England, Scotland and Wales with a fingerprint identification system, with the capability to search palm prints and marks.

Crime Operational Support: Crime Operational Support assist police forces by providing specialist operational skills and can assist in the resolution of exceptional crime series and operational critical incidents.

Useful documents:

News and Events

New strategy for missing children and adults launched

5 December 2011 saw the launch of a new cross-Government strategy for missing children and adults in England and Wales. It is designed to promote co-operation between police, social services, schools and other authorities for the 200,000 people who go missing every year in the UK. It also covers support for their families. The strategy can be downloaded from the Home Office website. Police can access a copy via the Missing Persons Bureau community on the POLKA website.

The Bureau Newsletter

Since 2008, we have published a quarterly newsletter called The Bureau. This has now been re-launched as an electronic update document and will be circulated more regularly. The latest edition can be downloaded here. If you would like to join the mailing list, or would like to receive archived copies of The Bureau from 2008-2010, please email us.

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Where possible we have included downloadable files in Adobe PDF format. To view these files you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader which you can download free from Adobe's website here.