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Missing Persons Squad
The Missing Persons Squad receives approximately 2,000 missing person reports annually. Approximately 70% of these reports involve juveniles between the ages of 13 to 17, the largest number of habitual runaways. Adults account for the other 30%. About 75 cases per year require the use of an Operation Return Home or a Golden Alert. Less than five (5) reports annually involve foul play.
While the primary responsibility of the Louisville Metro Police Department's (LMPD) Missing Persons Squad is to locate missing persons, they are willing to assist in solving runaway cases. A missing person is one who has disappeared without an explanation. A runaway has a motive to disappear and does not want to be found.
Our detectives are dealing with many cases daily, and sometimes a runway case may last for months. Please be patient.
Unfortunately, the LMPD does not have the authority or the resources to find uprooted friends or relatives who have lost contact with each other. Those individuals should seek other public or private resources.
Reporting a Missing Person
In Louisville, thousands of people are reported missing each year. There is no waiting period (24 or 72 hours) before you can file a report. In fact, the sooner the report is filed, the sooner we can work to help locate the missing person. Very few missing persons are the victim of foul play or some other criminal act. Most missing persons are found or return home within just a few days. If any foul play is suspected the investigation escalates accordingly. For more information on how to file a report, click here.
Missing Adults
Being a missing person is not a crime. Adults can be missing if they choose to be. They can choose to leave work, ignore friends and even family. Because of this, law enforcement is quite limited in what they can do. Even if law enforcement does locate the person, they can not divulge any information about that person without specific permission from that person.
Runaways
Finding and recovering a runaway child depends greatly on the active and aggressive participation of the parent/guardian. Searching for your child may seem overwhelming and a parent will feel completely lost as how to search or where to start. Here are a few tips to help you start finding your runaway.
Make a list of all friends, associates and classmates, and start calling.
- Who is the boyfriend/girlfriend and where do they live?
- Let your runaway know that you are hot on their trail and are serious about finding them.
- Give the investigators last names, phone numbers and addresses
- Many runaways have been trained by other runaways and will tell your child to turn off their phone so contact cannot be made.
- The runaway may clear all telephone numbers from a cellular telephone databank so that you won't call their friends.
Keep track of who you have contacted, what they told you and when.
- Your runaway's friends will often hide the truth from you and investigators.
- Document the names of the parents and tell the parents that you absolutely do not give permission for your runaway to stay or live anywhere except home.
List all of the "hang outs" and activities of your child. You may know of several and the runaway's friends may give you more.
- Let the investigator know if the runaway has used or is using drugs.
- List what the runaway enjoys doing in his/her spare time.
- Tell the investigator if the runaway has talked about places where they had fun.
List what the runaway took with them.
- Changes of clothing.
- Food or money.
- Cellphone.
- Make-up or toys (tablet, skateboard, bicycle, etc.).
Check telephone, computer / Internet access.
- Check social media accounts and computer history. You may find, for example, that a bus ticket was purchased.
- Search for e-mail to friends and messages about running away.
- Check your long distance telephone log.
Check with the school and any employers.
- Get attendance history from your child's school.
- Obtain information from the school or the school security officer of your child's school friends that you may not know.
- Find out if your runaway is expecting a paycheck soon.
- Learn about any work associates.
- Find out about the runaway's work history, unexcused absences, etc.
Monitor your home.
- Many runaways will sneak home to steal food, money or get more clothing. Many times they don't come alone.
- Secure your home and know if the runaway has been there while you were at work or away.
- Call 502-574-7111 or the detective you are working with to notify them of the child's return. If your child was found and returned by any police agency, notify the detective assisting on your case.
AMBER Alerts
Criteria
When a law enforcement agency is notified about an abducted child, it must first determine if that child’s case meets the AMBER Alert criteria. The U.S. Department of Justice’s recommended guidelines are:
- There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.
- The abduction is of a child age 17 or younger.
- The law enforcement agency believes the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
- There is enough descriptive information about the victim and abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
- The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
AMBER Alerts in Kentucky
The LMPD's Missing Persons Squad often receives request from the public to issue AMBER Alerts. They review all reported cases of abduction and will seek the issuances of AMBER Alerts when the facts of the case meet the AMBER Alert criteria.
In Kentucky, all law enforcement agencies seeking an AMBER Alert must make that request to the Kentucky State Police (KSP). A real-time review of the case is conducted between the local law enforcement agency and the KSP. The KSP are the deciding agency whether an AMBER Alert is issued or denied, based on the facts known at the time.