A recent television programme featured stories of how the hosts tracked down the people who had been interviewed in news stories decades ago. Similarly, police officers make painstaking efforts to search high and low for missing persons on a daily basis.

On the afternoon of March 26, 2021, Mr Chan, a dementia patient in his 80s, went missing in Tung Wah Hospital, Sheung Wan, during a check-up when he was accompanied by his daughter. Two years ago, Mr Chan went missing but was later found by his family. In order to reach and locate Mr Chan, his family gave him a mobile phone, but he refused to carry it.

Upon receiving the missing report, Central District (CDIST) listed Mr Chan as a high-risk missing person and quickly deployed officers from various units to join the search. Some officers obtained information from Mr Chan’s family for analysis, while some officers searched for him on the streets with his photographs. Police Constable of Patrol Sub-unit 1 of CDIST Tsui Ho-yin was responsible for checking closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage. With the assistance of many nearby shopkeepers in the investigation, he examined the CCTV footage thoroughly and analysed that Mr Chan was most likely in the Sheung Wan area.

After the information was disseminated within the Force, Police Constable of Task Force Sub-unit of CDIST Tang Yung-kwan and his team members narrowed their search in Sheung Wan. Information showed that Mr Chan likes to shop at the wet market and as the weather was very hot that day, they guessed that Mr Chan might buy drinks to quench his thirst. As expected, they found an old man suspected to be Mr Chan at a juice bar across the road from the Sheung Wan Market. Since the old man only speaks the Chiu Chow dialect, a shopkeeper assisted in the translation and the officers eventually confirmed that the old man was indeed Mr Chan.

Mr Chan’s son praised the Police for their efficiency in locating his father within two hours of reporting and their professionalism in serving citizens. The two officers emphasised that regardless of the nature of the cases, they would diligently accomplish their mission to help citizens in need. They found Mr Chan because of their experience and the collaboration between the Police and citizens, which is another important factor.

In the same month, the Police also succeeded in finding two other missing persons within a short period of time. One such case involved an 11-year-old boy who went missing in Wong Tai Sin District (WTSDIST). When officers of Patrol Sub-unit 3 of WTSDIST were looking for the boy, they found out that he likes to use social media, so they messaged his friends on a social media site and discovered that the boy was playing video games at his friend’s house.

In the other case, a woman reported that her 90-year-old husband with heart disease had gone missing after leaving home alone. Officers of the Regional Missing Person Unit of Hong Kong Island comforted the wife and wasted no time in tracing the whereabouts of the old man. Eventually on the same day, they found the old man and sent him home. To show appreciation to the officers, the old man and his wife presented a pennant to the officers in April.