Scores of missing kids return home

The search is continuing for 22 children who are 17 years old or younger who were reported missing last month.

They were among 96 children reported missing in June.

However, the police reported that 74 children and 23 adults returned home after being reported missing.

That means that just over 60 per cent of the 158 persons reported missing last month have returned to their families and friends.

However, there was no happy ending to the search for 65-year-old Henry Knight of Hatfield district in Little London, Westmoreland.

He was found dead in a river at Retrieve Road in the parish less than 24 hours after he was reported missing.

Command centre

The police have been tracking the return of persons reported missing since April 19 when a Missing Persons Centre was established.

"The main reason why we have to establish this centre is because when persons go missing, it is reported. And in many instances, these missing persons, especially teenagers, return to their homes without any further contact with the police telling us they have returned," Police Commissioner Owen Ellington announced as he established the centre.

"As a result, we are left with many cases which are lumped as being unsolved. This is an untenable situation as it raises fear in the society and portrays the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) in a very bad light," added Ellington.

The centre is manned by six trained district constables whose sole task is to call the families or interested parties of missing persons to find out whether these missing persons have returned home.