90 per cent of child disappearances are accidental

Half of complaints concern youngsters from institutions

90 per cent of child disappearances are accidental, which means that those are normally lost and not the target of any crime, Lusa was told by the director of the Polícia Judiciária’s Criminal Investigation Information Unit.

Ramos Caniço explained that there are more cases during the holiday season, given the fact that children are not familiar with the places they are staying at, and offered advice: never to leave children alone. “This is the primary advice, fundamental and irreplaceable. Even when they are next to us, they disappear”, he stated.

The head officer offered the example that a child that is home alone is perfectly capable of walking out, and told that three days after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a four-year-old child that had been left on her own by her parents during the night, walked into the street at 4 a.m. She was found by a neighbour, who took her home.

Between January and June, the PJ had registered 34 missing children, but they were all found. “Lisbon has a success rate of around 100 per cent”, he pointed out.

Half of the complaints concerning the disappearance of adolescents refer to youngsters from institutions, both from educational centres and social security shelters: “Some run away more than ten times during the first few months spent in institutions.”

During the first five months of this year, the PJ received more than 400 participations of missing adolescents aged between 12 and 18, several of them concerning the same youngsters.

“The adolescents are our main workload, although these are cases that generally are solved on their own”, said Ramos Caniço.


source: IOL Portugal Diário, 29.06.2009

By Astro


http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2009/06/90-per-cent-of-child-disappearances-are

Now thats good to see real statistics being shown from experts who have no reason to lie and have evidence to prove it!