SOME 327 people went missing in the first six months of this year, said Asst Supt Darryl Ramdass of the police Anti Kidnapping Unit, addressing a briefing at police headquarters in Port of Spain on Thursday.
Of the missing people, some 154 were minors, he added, whose disappearances he variously blamed on peer pressure, social issues and problems at home.
Ramdass said of the 327, 275 had returned or been found, while 34 were still missing. He did not account for 18 individuals.
He said the recovery rate for missing people was 84 per cent, while those outstanding made up ten per cent.
Of the 154 minors, some 142 had been returned and ten were still missing, Ramdass said, but without accounting for two.
This equated to a 92 per cent recovery rate, and a ten per cent outstanding rate, he said.
Ramdass broke down the figures for the 154 missing minors.
These comprised 121 females, of whom 115 were recovered and six were still missing, plus 33 missing males, of whom 27 were recovered and four were outstanding.
He then also attributed instances of missing minors to discipline issues, family issues and sexual grooming. He said social intervention was necessary and came via the Community Police, Child Protection Unit, and the Children's Authority. Ramdass said it was sometimes disturbing to hear some of the stories associated with minors going missing but the police tried their best to get social intervention in these cases. He advised parents to be aware of their children's behaviour patterns and who they were interacting with.
Snr Supt Rishi Singh of the Port of Spain CID chimed in to say that a few weeks ago the police had recovered a female who had gone missing as a minor but on recovery was now an adult with children of her own. She had been referred to the relevant authorities for assistance, he added.
Singh pointed out that in many cases of missing people, the police had to try to strike the right balance between doing their job and respecting people's constitutional right to privacy and a family life.
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