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The April 2025 missing persons poster is now available!Have you seen any of these people? Jean Vincent Diezmo Policarpio Samuel Fallshaw  Anne Marie Jeffery Clinton Kurt Lockyer Anna Rosa Liva Jeremiah Harold Rivers Sandrine Jourdan Jason Michael Oakley Madeline Jennings Brian Fulljames Siriyakorn Siriboon Daniel O’Meara Mark Anthony Barnes Helen Free John Forster John Swiety Access all missing persons posters.

The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre marked the Christmas 2024 holiday period by reaching out to the families of long-term missing persons for the #missingyouthischristmas campaign. This campaign raised awareness of the impacts for families whose loved one are missing, especially during the Christmas and New Year period. The families of four long-term missing persons, Daniel O’Meara, Jeffrey (Jeff) Mundy, Jason Mazurek and Luke Gourlay, provided heartfelt messages to let them know that they are always remembered, never to be forgotten, and will forever be loved and missed.  “Daniel, we all love you and miss you. Wishing you are safe and well and we hope and pray you come home soon. Love Mum, Dad, Tania and Bruce xox”- Family members of Daniel O’Meara “Dear Jeff, there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t all think about you and hope that one day, you’ll just walk through the front door. Merry Christmas son, Love Mum, Dad and all the kids. Never forgotten.”- Family member of Jeffrey Mundy “For the past 20+ years there’s been an empty seat at our table on special occasions. This is a constant reminder that our family continues to search for answers. We’ll never give up hope”. - Rebekah, sister of Jason Mazurek "Dear Luke, we miss you, we love you, the whole family misses you, please make contact”.- Suzanne, family member of Luke GourlayIf you are a family member of a missing person and are in need of assistance, please see our support services page.

Saturday 23 November 2024, the Missing Australia Network Working Group (MANWG) held their inaugural Symposium for Families of Missing Persons, hosted by Search Dogs Sydney. The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) were invited to attend the event which brought together families and friends who share the profound experience of having a missing loved one. The newly established MANWG aims to create a representative body for the families and friends of missing persons to combine the resources of community support groups and volunteer search organisations, to assist families in their efforts to locate their missing loved one.The Symposium included a series of workshops to gather insights and perspectives to shape future initiatives of the MANWG and information sessions delivered by those with lived experience.The NMPCC would like to offer a heartfelt thank you to those who shared the story of their missing loved one and details of their own personal experiences of navigating investigative and coronial processes and dealing with ambiguous loss. 

From 6 to 8 November 2024, the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) and the Western Australia Police Force (WAPOL) co-hosted the Police Consultative Group on Missing Persons (PCGMP) meeting in Perth. The PCGMP provides a national platform to identify issues and trends specific to missing persons and ensures a consistent approach and response from police and search agencies across the country.  By bringing together all state, territory, and New Zealand missing persons units, the PCGMP develops, maintains, and reviews national policies and procedures related to missing persons in Australia. This collaborative effort ensures a unified and effective response to missing persons cases nationwide. The meeting explored various capabilities and new initiatives to assist with long-term missing persons investigations and unidentified human remains cases. 

On 25th October 2024, National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) members attended the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s (DMF) annual Walk for Daniel.Deputy Commissioner Lesa Gale, Commander Joanne Cameron and AFP members joined over 2000 community members, school children, emergency services and government officials on the 4km walk. The route through Woombye from the Suncoast Christian College to Briggs Park in Palmwoods, represents the journey home Daniel was unable to complete. The annual event inspires members of the community to walk together to raise awareness of child safety, fundraise and to walk Daniel home. This year’s walk was held on the DMF annual Day for Daniel to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the DMF and launch the foundation’s latest initiative, a free digital children’s book, Wobbly Jelly. The book is designed to prevent abuse and promote lifelong health and wellbeing by encouraging important conversations about child safety and educate children about body clues and how to Recognise, React, and Report unsafe situations.Through collaborative initiatives between the AFP, DMF and other not for profit organisations and community groups, together we are continuing to shine a light on the importance of child safety and supporting families affected by missing children.

The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) hosted its first stakeholder engagement forum in recent years which provided non-government organisations (NGOs) and families of missing persons the opportunity to share their views and perspectives on improving our collective efforts to respond to missing persons. The event, held on 20 September 2024, was attended both in person in Canberra and virtually by interested parties from around the country. ‘Engaging with stakeholders provides us with the victim survivor voice which is critically important to ensure we're building something relevant to the community,’ said Commander Joanne Cameron, who chaired the event. Powerful and emotive roundtable discussions highlighted the importance of the continued communication between law enforcement and the families of the long-term missing, through periodic updates and social media.Stakeholders provided valuable insights and suggestions to improve the language and cultural awareness in educational campaigns and tools which support families navigating the process of reporting a loved one missing.The program commenced with a presentation by Commander Helen Schneider from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation on their successful strategies to achieve greater community outcomes through partnerships with stakeholders and NGOs.Commander Cameron concluded the event with an update on Project Restore, a Forensics Command initiated project to continue to provide specialist forensic capabilities to support policing partners in missing persons and unidentified remains, and related complex criminal investigations. This project will combine the specialist capabilities and consolidate them alongside NMPCC and Disaster Victim Identification to continue to generate investigative leads and resolve enduring long term missing persons cases.This forum, which will be the first in a series conducted as part of the consultation phase of Project Restore, was a powerful step in supporting those most affected by someone missing. This embeds the NMPCC mission to continue to reduce the incidence and impact of missing persons in Australia.

On Friday 13 September, 646 participants across Australia and online, took part in the 2024 National Missing Persons Hackathon (the hackathon). The event was hosted in each capital city, with the main event held at Tech Central Scaleup Hub in Sydney.The hackathon was first delivered in 2019 in partnership with the AFP’s National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC). It was the world’s first large-scale, crowdsourced open-source intelligence (OSINT) gathering of its kind in Australia for missing persons.This year NMPCC supported the event by working with state and territory police to identify suitable missing persons cases to be featured in the ‘capture the flag’ competition. Five missing persons cases were presented to participants to begin sourcing intelligence and potential leads during the 6-hour event.A total of 500 reports with new leads were submitted by participants to a panel of judges who verified the information and allocated points. Winners of the hackathon were announced on Monday 23 September with first place going to Phish & Chips who attended virtually, second place went to Tasmanian team Thick Thighs Saving Lives, third place went to Victorian team to Gridware and fourth place to South Australian team 5. Prizes included challenge coins and OSINT training. All leads are being collated by Hackathon case managers and NMPCC. Information will be shared with relevant jurisdictions to assist with each missing person’s case.

This year’s National Missing Persons Week campaign will focus on 8 missing Australian women.The AFP is shining the light on long-term missing women this National Missing Persons Week (NMPW), calling on the Australian public to come forward with new information that could help bring them home. This year from 28 July – 3 August, the campaign Always Searching will focus on the continuing efforts of police to solve missing persons investigations.Throughout the week, 8 missing women will be featured, providing an opportunity to raise awareness and encourage the community to come forward with any information they may have. Each case will highlight a different long-term missing person who has been selected in consultation with state and territory police.The recurring message of this year’s campaign is that no matter how tiny the detail, police are committed to following leads and information to help find families’ loved ones.For further information, please click here

The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) interviewed Canine Handler, Leading Senior Constable Peter Hockings and his canine Rogue, to learn about how the ACT Dog Team/AFP General Purpose Team assists in the search and rescue of missing persons.When a member of the public is reported as missing, members from the AFP General Purpose Team will respond. “In the event that we're required to use a dog to locate and track a person who is missing, we are one of the first teams to respond to such an event, especially if it's a young child or an older elderly member of the community”. The AFP General Purpose Team currently has 5 General Purpose Dogs that are deployed in the ACT region as well as nationally and internationally to help bring loved ones home.Leading Senior Constable Hockings explained how their canine partners assist in search and rescue missions and how environmental factors, such as high winds, can influence a canine's ability to track scents. Wind can disperse odours, making it more challenging for dogs to follow a direct trail. “Our dogs may not necessarily track and locate odour where the person walked, but the wind may have pushed the odour off to one side. So that's where the dog will be working when the odour pool is the strongest”.The NMPCC and the AFP General Purpose Team are dedicated to continuing to assist in the search and location efforts for those who are missing.Please see the full interview below:

Every year on the 25th May, the Global Missing Children’s Network (GMCN) commemorates International Missing Children's Day (IMCD) by honouring missing and abducted children, and celebrating those who have been recovered.This year the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) marked IMCD by highlighting the core objectives of IMCD: to commemorate missing children who have found their way home, remember those who have been the victims of crime and continue efforts to find those who are still missing.The NMPCC featured missing children’s profiles during the week leading up to IMCD across their social media platforms. The missing children’s profiles were nominated by state and territory policing partners. A selection of profiles were accompanied by a quote provided by either the family of the missing person or the case officer working on the case. These quotes highlighted case officers’ continuing efforts to locate missing children and special memories shared by family members.Mother of missing child Megan Mulquiney shared: “Megan was gentle, warm and loving and a little bit shy. She was a beautiful girl. I never stop hoping I will have answers about Megan’s whereabouts. It’s been nearly 40 years and it never goes away”.Commander Forensics Joanne Cameron filmed a captivating video to remind members of the public the true meaning behind IMCD. Additionally, this video encouraged the audience to view the missing children featured in this year's IMCD campaign and share any information which may assist in locating these missing children to Crime Stoppers via 1800 333 000.To mark IMCD the NMPCC shared a children focused missing persons poster. Featuring 8 profiles of missing children from around Australia, the poster was created in the hope of generating public awareness for their cases. The IMCD missing children poster and all other missing person posters can be viewed on our website.To view the IMCD commemoration video and to learn more about the 2024 campaign, please visit the NMPCC Facebook, Instagram and (X) pages.Missing Persons Profiles can be viewed on the Public Register.

February 8, 2024 marked the 11th anniversary since Lorrin Whitehead went missing. Lorrin was last seen at 4:55pm on 8 February 2013. She would now be 53 years old.By utilising family photos, as well as knowledge of the effects of ageing, Forensic Artists at the Australian Federal Police have created an artist’s impression of what Lorrin might look like today. The above image shows a comparison of Lorrin in 2013 to today.The image created is an approximation of what Lorrin would look like today. This insight not only provides the family and police vital information, it also provides a new tool to share with the public, who may be able to assist in solving Lorrin’s case.There still are grave concerns for Lorrin’s welfare as she is a Type 1 Insulin Dependent Diabetic. If you have information that may assist police in locating Lorrin, please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.auFor more information on the age progression process, you can visit –www.missingpersons.gov.au/age-progressionFor more information on Lorrin’s disappearance, please visit –www.missingpersons.gov.au/search/vic/lorrin-whitehead

Recently we ran a social media series exploring the reasons people went missing and what they were feeling and experiencing at the time. Anyone, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or educational background may become a missing person. The reasons for going missing are many and varied and can include mental illness, miscommunication, misadventure, domestic violence, and being a victim of crime.  The unique reasons featured in the series offer some perspective into the different reasons people go missing, but also serve as a reminder that we never know what someone is going through and to consider how we could support someone at risk of going missing. If you know someone who is struggling or at risk of going missing, find information about how you can support them here: www.missingpersons.gov.au Search @AFPNMPCC on Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter) to see the full series.