An advanced computer system is helping police in West Mercia reduce the number of persistent young runaways from care homes.

Almost one third of children who spend time in care run away three times or more, according to the Children's Society.

In the vast majority of cases they return safe and sound, but these persistent young runaways present a major challenge for the police and local authorities who are responsible for their care.

Tracking them down can take a great deal of time and divert police manpower away from more serious cases where the welfare of an individual is of major concern. This is often because reports are held in outdated, paper-based systems which make it difficult to retrieve crucial information about repeat runaways.

As well as placing a huge drain on police resources and time, the longer these young people spend on the streets the greater the risks they face.

In a bid to tackle the problem West Mercia Constabulary is using a powerful computer system to speed up the process of investigating and recording missing persons cases. The COMPACT (Community Policing and Case Tracking) system enables officers to carry out a risk assessment on everyone who disappears and access and share information at the click of a button.

Each person is ranked as high, medium or low risk and COMPACT builds up case histories of runaways, providing officers with valuable information instantaneously. Officers can see, for example, how many times a person has gone missing and get an idea of where to look for them based on previous enquiries.

In 2006 West Mercia Constabulary investigated nearly 2,000 missing persons reports in total which resulted in a policing bill of around £2million.

“The 2,000 missing persons reports entered on COMPACT last year related to just 1,100 people,” said Inspector Phil Shakesheff, West Mercia Constabulary’s missing persons champion. “This is because there are people who go missing several times. In fact in 2006 one child in care in Shropshire was reported missing 25 times.A 15-year-old girl in care in Worcestershire has been reported missing some 64 times since December 2004.”

"Each one of these missing persons reports is extremely resource intensive and costs the force about £1,000 on average.”

Previously, West Mercia used a paper-based system for recording missing persons reports but this proved to be inefficient and ineffective. “In some cases we had to wade through dozens of paper reports to piece together the information we needed,” said Insp Phil Shakesheff.

“The beauty of COMPACT is that all of these reports, including an individual’s entire case history, are instantly available to everyone with access to a police computer terminal. The system automatically alerts us if a person goes missing three or more times in a 90-day period and we can access vital information, including all previous address checks, at the click of a button. This allows us to identify children who go missing frequently - and the care homes concerned - much more quickly and get a good idea of where they might be found."

“Police can then work together in partnership with care establishments and Social Service agencies to trace the child and also to implement measures to reduce their missing episodes.”

The majority of cases dealt with by West Mercia are in the force’s Shropshire division which has one of the highest concentrations of privately-run care homes in the country. It includes 52 children’s homes – 50 of which are privately operated - plus a number of foster placements and a large psychiatric hospital.

Armed with the information provided by COMPACT, West Mercia Constabulary is now working closely with care home managers in Shropshire and is drawing up an improved partnership protocol with local social services departments to reduce the number of young runaways.

Following the installation of COMPACT the total number of missing persons cases in the Shropshire division has fallen by nine per cent, from 478 reports in 2005 to 436 in 2006. This represents a saving of £42,000 in terms of police time and resources.

The number of repeat missing people in the division – those who run away three times or more - has fallen by 30 per cent, from 40 in 2005 to 28 last year.

Across the force area as a whole, there has been a 13 per cent reduction in the number of missing persons reports relating to children in care, from 818 in 2005 to 715 in 2006.

West Mercia Constabulary has also been working closely with local health officials to reduce the number of people who go missing from psychiatric hospitals in Shropshire. This has resulted in a 24 per cent reduction in missing person’s reports from mental health facilities, from 153 reports in 2005 to 116 last year. This equates to a saving of £37,000 in police resources.

“COMPACT is saving valuable police time and resources,” added Insp Shakesheff. “But more importantly, the potential risks that many missing people are being exposed to are being significantly reduced because of the readily available information provided by the system."

“Ultimately this is helping us to reduce exposure to danger and save lives.”