There will be anguished and anxious moments causing great distress to families and friends when their loved ones have suddenly disappeared. As Police officers, we should therefore be more considerate and pay attention to the emotion of the missing person's family while we try our best to locate the missing person.
On a night in July, a man phoned the police for assistance after discovering that his mother was missing from home. My mobile patrol car crew and other beat officers immediately headed for the scene and initial enquiry revealed that the informant and his mother had moved to a new place for just a few weeks and therefore the granny was not familiar with the local area. To make things worse, she was suffering from Dementia and had to take medicine every day. Before calling 999, the informant had searched the area to look for his mother but to no avail.
After assessing the situation, I divided jobs among my men in order to take care of every single aspect of the case. We not only carried out the routine jobs such as obtaining detailed descriptions and information from the informant and forming a search party, but also paid attention to the informant's emotion and kept comforting him. We also contacted the granny's other family members and friends. During enquiries, I learned that the granny once lived in Hung Hom, so we contacted her old neighbours to see if they could offer any help.
The search party located a granny who looked like the missing person but this turned out to be a disappointment. Not disheartened at all, we refused to give up and kept on searching in a hot and humid day. Eventually, the missing person was located in Hung Hom by her old neighbours, safe and sound. This was a great relief for not only her family but also every one of us working in the case.
Shortly after the incident, much to our delight, we received an appreciation letter from the granny's son, expressing gratitude for the successful reunion with his mother. He also praised us for serving the community with both professionalism and a big heart. And I am proud that my officers have won recognition for doing their best to get the job done in a trying situation.
SGT Tse Kam-shuen from Kwai Chung Patrol Sub-unit 3
