Disappearing youngsters a cause for concern
With the current spate of teens and young adults who have been reported missing, I spoke to people who assist parents and families to try and locate their loved ones.
JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – Jacqui Thomas, Director of The Pink Ladies, an independent group of volunteers, said, “The organisation was established for the primary purpose of reuniting missing and endangered children and loved ones with their families and/or caregivers.
“I would hesitate to put the current number of missing children down to a new trend or occurrence. The truth of the matter is that with the advent of social platforms and new technology it is much easier to report a missing child and to get the message out into public. Yes, there are certain times of the year (particularly school holidays in each Province) when numbers seem to increase drastically, but this is to be expected.”
She added, “Usually when large festivals or events take place, one will also by nature see an increase in reports of missing children. Add to that the current unemployment rate, the number of households run by children, the desperate situation of most middle and lower class income families and it’s not that surprising at all. The Western Cape has possibly the highest rate of missing children, closely followed by Gauteng.”
The Pink Ladies organisation can be contacted on their national 24 hour emergency number 072 214 7439 (emergencies only) or email admin@pinkladies.org.za
E-Track Alert is a web based system designed to assist with missing persons.
We spoke to Trevor Ackermann, an investigator at eTrack- Alert and he said: “Most of the adult missing persons are normally found within 48 hours, in some instances the cause is related to infidelity and or domestic issues. With missing children it’s mainly either due to narcotic’s and or bad friendships, and with adults between 18 and 25years most instances are drug related matters. “Our caseloads vary from month to month. Last month we did about 20 missing persons and this month to date about 10. In most instances we have a good success rate of finding the missing person/ child. We do require a SAP 55 to be opened to assist in most cases and if we feel a person may be in trouble we will immediately assist without an SAP 55.
“eTrack Alert is a group of volunteers, we do not charge for our services as this is a passion for us. Most of our work is either sponsored by my company eVolutionary Tracking Solutions and time and expert advice is donated by my staff and our volunteers and mostly the people on our groups, facebook pages and networks distributing flyers and handing back information.
“We also work closely with SAPS in certain cases advising them on information we have received and if we find the person. In all cases missing person should report themselves to SAPS to close the case.”
If you want to report someone who is missing ETrack-Alert: Website: https://etrack-alert.org/ or
emergency contact number 083 900 8225.
