Missing Persons (FOI Ref: 320A 25)

Request

I am writing to ask how many long-term missing persons cases are under the investigation of/on the records of West Midlands Police. By "long term", I mean missing longer than one year as of 09/02/2025 (i.e. missing from 09/02/2024 or before).

I am also asking how many of said cases date to 09/02/1984 or prior.

Response

Please find enclosed our response.

How many long-term missing persons cases are under the investigation of/on the records of West Midlands Police. By "long term", I mean missing longer than one year as of 09/02/2025 (i.e. missing from 09/02/2024 or before).

117

I am also asking how many of said cases date to 09/02/1984 or prior.

We currently have 6 missing persons from the 117 list who went missing prior to 09/02/1984.  They range from 1968-1983. 

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are considered when interpreting the data. 

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be considered when those data are used.  

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.