Data on police resolutions of missing person cases with digital assistance from social media appeals in 2024 and 2025

Question:

Mr Cai Yinzhou: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) what is the average time taken by the Police to locate a missing person; (b) in 2024 and 2025, what proportion of these cases were resolved through public information p rompted by social media appeals; and (c) in what proportion of the cases have the Police engaged online service providers to track digital footprints for activity or locations to assist in recovery.


Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. The Police do not track the time taken to locate a missing person. This can vary significantly from case to case. When the Police receive a missing person report, investigations will be launched to locate the person. The Police will accord priority to vu lnerable missing persons, including young children, elderly persons, and persons with intellectual disabilities. Typically, the large majority of vulnerable missing persons are found within the day.

2. The Police will pursue all available leads to locate the missing person, which may include working with online service providers and publishing online appeals for information, with the consent of the family.

3. As investigations are dynamic and specific to each case, we do not track either the number of cases (i) resolved with the help of public information; or (ii) where online service providers were engaged.