Police Voices on Prevention Interviews in Managing Missing People in England and Wales Safe and Well?

This book rigorously examines police voices when people are reported missing, through empirical research. It explores the international literature in this emerging research field of missing people and presents new research of nearly 2,000 Constables from England and Wales, using quantitative and open qualitative questions. It explores the attitudes of police officers to Prevention Interviews (PI) of adults and children and examines whether the PI should be the responsibility of the police. It makes recommendations about best practice for the missing person process, advocating a more consistent, multi-agency approach to improve interventions.

.- 1. Introduction & What do we know already?.- 2. Design of the research.- 3. Demographics, Frequency, training, prioritising, responsibility for PI.- 4. Vulnerabilities, Typical involvement, common missing people, engagement levels in PI, barriers.- 5. Positive experiences of the PI, value of the PI, information-sharing, improvements.- 6. Implications and recommendations.

Michael Harris is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of the West of England, UK.