THUNDER BAY — On a per capita basis, Thunder Bay Police investigate missing persons reports at a rate nearly five times higher than their counterparts in Toronto.
Figures released this week by the Thunder Bay Police Service show there were 850 missing persons reports last year, or about 732 per 100,000 population.
In sharp contrast, Toronto police dealt with only 155 missing persons per 100,000 population last year.
"There's a huge difference between those numbers," Chief Sylvie Hauth says.
The reasons for the disparity are not clear, but Chief Hauth said many of the cases in Thunder Bay involve the same individuals going missing repeatedly.
"We have a high volume of young individuals that are reported missing and often that are habituals...You have a person that's reported missing on a number of occasions within a week, within a month or even within a year. Those all represent a separate incident," she said in an interview.
Asked if the TBPS and Toronto Police Services follow the same guidelines for handling missing persons cases, Hauth said every police force in Ontario must adhere to provincial government standards.
However, she noted that TBPS reviewed its missing person policy as a result of recommendations that emerged from the inquest into the deaths of seven Indigenous youths in the city in 2016.
"We have revamped in the last few years...specifically since the Seven Youth Inquest recommendations, so we've really paid attention and listened to the recommendation but also looked at how we were doing business...We've changed and updated our missing person policy and really are reporting our investigative processes."
TBPS last year launched an Am I Missing public awareness campaign aimed at dispelling misconceptions about how they handle missing persons reports.
At the time, Det. Insp. Ryan Hughes said "one of the big myths" is that police will not issue a missing person report immediately.
"It doesn't take 24 hours," Hughes said. "If the factors are met or someone has a concern, Thunder Bay Police will do a missing report right away."
The campaign arose from the Seven Youth Inquest recommendations and was organized in partnership with numerous Indigenous organizations.
Recommendation 91 called for actions to "ensure timely reporting of missing students and consistent practice among institutions when students are reported missing."
TBPS has dedicated officers within the Criminal Investigations Branch who deal specifically with missing person cases.
But Hauth described the work involved in all missing persons cases as "very resource-intensive."
She said they impact the entire police organization "from anyone taking the initial report to the records staff, staff entering the information on CPIC [a Canada-wide police data base], to this being dispatched to the Communications Centre to our detectives, to our front-line officers and investigators."
Most individuals who are reported missing, she said, are either located or return home safely on their own within 24 hours.
The TBPS website has a page that outlines how and when to contact police about a missing person, and describes the information police require before they attempt to locate the individual.
Ontario's new Missing Persons Act, which went into effect this month, gives police new tools to conduct missing persons investigations.
These include the ability to get warrants to search a premises or access hospital, cellphone and bank records without having to show that a crime may have occurred.
Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said the changes are important because "police and family members tell us that the first hours after someone goes missing are the most critical."
