Vancouver/Fraser Valley (NEWS 1130) – Police departments around our province are getting ready for a stronger missing persons law coming next September.
The new face-to-face verification required when someone is found will add to the workload, but there appears to be general support for the law.
In some departments, the workload is already high — take Vancouver, where six officers look into 4,000 missing persons cases a year.
But former West Vancouver Police chief Kash Heed says the extra work will be worth it.
“In BC I think this is a well deserved policy, and I don’t think it will have a [negative] impact on our police services throughout the province of British Columbia,” says Heed.
Constable Ian MacDonald with Abbotsford Police also sees the positive.
“To be able to be part of a situation with the family, the loved ones, and the missing, I think will probably be a valuable use of time in the big scheme of things,” says MacDonald.
This new law is coming in, as in-person verification was one of the recommendations to come out of the Missing Women Inquiry, which was overseen by former judge Wally Oppal.
