Parents in London hesitate to call in missing children cases
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The London Assembly police and crime committee investigate the causes and handling process of missing child cases and find that distrust among parents causes them to look for their children instead of reporting them missing.
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Two police officers stand outside the New Scotland Yard, London, UK, 21 March 2023 (Reuters)
Diminishing trust and confidence in London police prompts parents to be more reluctant to report to authorities if their children went missing.
After an investigation that aimed to uncover the causes and handling process of missing child cases, the London Assembly police and crime committee discovered that "distrust" felt by parents towards the British police force parents into looking for their children instead of reporting to authorities.
Moreover, the committee discovered that London households "face frustrating delays and inaccurate information when reporting missing incidents to the Met (Metropolitan police)," which is "inconsistent and "fractious" when responding to calls from all over the capital and have been thought to "hinder" the search for highly vulnerable children.
Two-thirds of the cases remain unreported
9,370 children went missing in London in 2022-23, many of which have recurrently been reported as missing, which amounted to almost 30,000 separate missing cases recorded by the Met.
The charity 'Missing People' said that the number of cases is actually two-thirds higher than the official numbers as a large portion of missing incidents remains unreported to the Met.
“For many people within London, the fact that parts of the Met have issues around misogyny and racism will impact on a community’s engagement with the police at all sorts of times,” Sherry Peck, Chief Executive of youth organization Safer London, stated.
According to a YouGov poll completed last week 51% of Londoners participating in the survey said they did not trust the police while 42% did. Furthermore, 'distrust' increased slightly to 55% among Londoners of ethnic minorities.
Another charity Catch22 underlined that the communities that express feelings of distrust towards authorities "are more likely to involve relatives and friends in the search for a missing child, especially if they have concerns that their child will get into trouble."
The committee emphasized its concern that not all missing children receive "an effective and proportionate police response" warning that "all children who go missing are highly vulnerable to exploitation," with some getting subjected to "the most appalling harms."
Disproportionate cases
Children in London who could be subjected to participating in criminal activity "should be seen first and foremost as victims, and everything should be done" to ensure they are not criminalized as evidence shows "this is not always happening in practice," the report underlined.
Black children are unevenly affected by phenomena as 43% of missing children are black even though they account for just 17% of the children population in the city.
“The safety and wellbeing of children from all London’s communities remain an absolute priority for the Met,” the Met’s Public Protection Commander, Kevin Southworth, noted.
The official pointed to the fact that “investigating missing person reports is a complex area of policing and we recognize the distress such incidents cause the family and friends of the person involved."
He finally added, “We recognize all of the issues raised in this report and will continue to work with the Mayor and [Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime] to address the recommendations; all of which are informed by valued partners.”
