National Missing Persons Coordination Centre Stakeholder Forum
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.