Defining “A Missing Person”

It is important to have a definition when we talk about “Missing Persons.” We need a reference point as there are so many types of Missing Person and as we have just discussed – there are also different categories.

Foo’s Five Missing and Lost Categories

I have created a table below to add to the Police onn shown earlier. Taught on my courses to behaviourists and SAR Managers it has affectionately become known as Foo’s Missing and Lost Categories. Keep in mind that in some instances, the subjects such as teenage runaways, may actually employ active counter measures to try to prevent you from actually finding them.

My Five Categories of Missing Persons

Table 4 The Five Categories of Missing or Lost by Gary Foo.

Previous Category	My Terminology
Lost Person:	Lost Person This is a person who is temporarily disorientated and would wish to be found, e.g., someone who has gone walking and does not know where they are (and how to return.)
Missing Person who has voluntarily gone missing:	Missing Person This is someone who has control over their actions and who has decided upon a course of action, e.g., wishes to leave home or commit suicide;
Missing Person under the influence of a third party:	Abducted Someone who has gone missing against their will, e.g., abduction or murder victim.
NEW; Foo None previous – now “Seized by forces“ (of nature?)	Seized A Seized victim is someone taken by the acts of nature or physics such as someone on boat without sail in the sea or a pilot who ejected from an aircraft. No emotion, behaviour nor deliberate act to predict but perhaps science.
NEW; Foo None previous – now “Gone Absent”	Absent An Absent person is one of those who we are reporting missing from our presence but who may not have the same concept of being lost due to their limited capacity in mental comprehension, and just gone ‘wandering off’ such as dementia sufferers.

So we can see that knowing something about the type of missing person, the “Category” can help us in initially profiling “the route to take” (pardon the pun) is to try to find these people.

SUMMARY OF 5 TYPES WITH EXAMPLES

By Gary Foo

Many organisations and people are now catching up to the fact that a "Missing Person" does not just mean a generic missing person but one of 5 categories of person not where we think they should be and away from the comfort and security of their loved ones and people who care for them.

These 5 categories were first establsihed by Gary Foo when he wrote of them in the Search and Rescue training materials following the 2004 Boxing day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

He noted that looking for someone taken by water (seized) is very different than a despondent who ran away (Missing Person) or someone who is suffering from dementia and gone missing without really knowing it (absent.) He wrote about this in his 2007 book on Emergency Response and Search and Rescue.

The point being that if we can better profile people, or categorize or understand people and predict tehir 'type' of situation it may help us use tools and resources to find them and improve outcomes - now and in future.

These are the 5 types of "Missing" or "Lost" person

Lost

e.g. Disoriented of location and wants to be found

The heartwrenching tragedy of 3 year old missing boy Elijah Marsh

e.g. Despondant or suicidal personal delibrately 'gone missing'

The senseless loss of Dr Rose Polge and suicide note mentioned here

e.g. A child grabbed and taken away against their will.

Little 2 year old James Bulger, abducted and murdered by two 10 year old boys

e.g. Aircraft that has passenger/s lost from original planned route

Missing Malasia Plane MH 370 or when Steve Fossets Plane crashed

e.g. An elderly alzheimer's patient who has got 'lost' due to their dementia

Such as patients with dementia in Canada or this man from Yorkshire, England