Form a Missing Persons Unit

MISSING: Sharday Emmanuel.
MISSING: Sharday Emmanuel.

ALMOST two months after his daughter Sharday Emmanuel went missing, Junior Emmanuel is calling on the police to form a Missing Persons Unit with manpower and other resources used specifically to investigate people who go missing.

Emmanuel yesterday said he believes such a unit within the Police Service is needed so that officers can focus strictly on dealing with the hundreds of cases of people going missing, some for as long as months and even years.

“It has been over 50 days since Shaday went missing and I have not heard much from the police on the status of the investigation. I feel strongly that if a Missing Persons Unit is formed, my daughter’s case would be given greater priority than what is probably happening now,” said the worried father of two.

Emmanuel said he believes his daughter is still alive. “People have said that with her gone so long and with no contact or sighting of her whatsoever, she may be dead. But in my heart, I believe she is still alive. Unless I see her body, I will live my life believing she is alive somewhere out there.”

He said that just like there are specialised units in the force such as the Homicide Investigations Bureau, whose officers are trained specifically to investigate murders, there is a need for a missing person’s unit especially given the issue of human trafficking.

On June 27, the nursing assistant left her home after telling relatives she was going to Chaguanas to collect something. When Emmanuel failed to return home, a missing person report was made at Brasso police station and then to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit.

According to figures provided by senior police sources, between January and August this year, 577 people were reported missing. Eighteen of those people are still unaccounted for, compared with the same period in 2017, 667 were reported missing with 33 of those people still cannot be found.

Comments

"Form a Missing Persons Unit"

More in this section