The first 24 hours are critical in a missing person’s case, yet many believe the police won’t act until a day has passed. Most movies and TV shows often make people think that this is a rule, but it’s a myth. A man from the Sun Prairie Police Department said they base their response on a few things, like, Is this person endangered? and What are the circumstances of the disappearance? By looking into the questions that they ask themselves, we can figure out how seriously each report is taken.
Juvenile disappearances are alarmingly common, and law enforcement is well aware of the patterns that emerge. Many departments tend to get overwhelmed with the number of reports they get. While many cases involve teens who have voluntarily left home, typically to stay with a friend or relative, the response becomes more urgent when the missing youth has a medical condition such as diabetes, which requires timely medication.
One of the most serious problems is that a little kid around four was playing outside and wound up missing. They can’t go too far in a short amount of time, so cops will set a perimeter to look for and then expand it as time goes on.
Amber Alert is very serious as well, but this is not for every missing report; it is only if someone has reported seeing someone take a child and has leads on what car they were driving or what they look like. This goes out to everyone in a certain mile radius to help be on the lookout for whatever the lead is and maybe come up with more leads.
Most people may not know, but back in December 1984 before Amber Alerts were a thing, they had Milk Carton Kids. Milk cartons for kids were very common, and they held the names and pictures of these missing children to get the word around in hopes of encouraging them to keep an eye out.
Etan Patz was the first and most famous milk carton kid. This 6-year-old boy was on his way to the school bus in Manhattan when he went missing. Since there was no way of tracking missing children, the National Child Safety Council printed off his photo on milk cartons in hopes of encouraging people to look for him.
