Missing Persons' Data

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/26/009463/Z

Version Date: 25/02/2026

The Performance & Analysis Department has provided the following information:

Data Processing:

Missing person reports recorded on crime information system – NICHE

Cancelled crimes excluded, Non notifiable crimes excluded

Qliksense Report: Misper dashboard

Filtered by reported date: November 15th 2022 to January 1st 2026

Data Limitations:

• Due to a change in recording systems, data prior to November 14th 2022 is unavailable.
• It is important to note, a unique individual may be reported missing more than once and may cross over into different years where more than one missing episode is reported.                                                            

For the period 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2026, please provide:

The total number of individuals reported missing and recorded by your force.

Between 15^th November 2022 and 1^st January 2026, there were 13,572 persons reported missing.

Please note, individuals are counted once per year, regardless of how many reports they are attached to. Furthermore, a person may appear in more than one year and as such, be counted more than once in the figures.

A breakdown of these missing persons by ethnicity, using the standard ethnicity categories recorded by the Missing Persons Unit (or the closest equivalent ie. any data held by your force).

Please provide the data: Broken down by calendar year (with January 2026 listed separately if annual totals are not yet finalised) In tabular format (CSV or Excel preferred)

Where ethnicity is not recorded for all cases, please also include: The number of cases where ethnicity was recorded as "unknown", "not stated", or equivalent.