Missing person As in old television shows, Honolulu police used to wait 48 hours before investigating a report of a missing person. That was years ago.
cases rely on
prompt reporting
Divers to seek murder weaponBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comToday, police classify someone a missing person as soon as he or she is reported missing, said Sgt. Wallace Choy of the Honolulu Police Department's Missing Persons Detail.
"There is no time frame. We do not have a waiting period. We always encourage people to report right away," Choy said.
He recommends people first make some "common sense" telephone calls to try to find the person. If the person cannot be reached, he said, it should be reported immediately.
Eleven-year-old Kahealani Indreginal was reported missing to police last Wednesday morning, but she was last seen the previous afternoon. Her father, Vincent Indreginal, later expressed regret that he did not call sooner but said he thought his daughter might have been at a relative or neighbor's house.
Choy said that the likelihood of locating a missing person is better the sooner it is reported.
"Time is very critical," he said.
Another critical factor, Choy said, is the amount of information witnesses can provide.
The first person to respond to a missing person report is a patrol officer who tries to get as much information as possible. If the officer determines the case warrants further investigation, it is forwarded to the Missing Persons Detail.
If insufficient information is provided to the officer, time is wasted following up the initial report, Choy said.
As head of the Missing Persons Detail, Choy supervises two officers and one reserve officer who works part time. The unit handles about 100 cases per month. Choy said 80 to 90 percent of the cases are closed in a couple of days when the missing person is found safe.
When a case requires more effort than the unit can provide, homicide and other detectives from HPD's Criminal Investigation Division as well as patrol officers are tapped, Choy said.
And as they did last week, police also turn to state and federal agencies for assistance.
