Figures revealed following FoI request
The police have dealt with more than 470 missing person cases in the last 12 months.
Figures have been released following a Freedom of Information request.
The figure of 476 for September 2017 until August this year is higher than the previous 12 months (421), but much lower than 2015-16 (742).
The average time a person is missing varies, though, depending on which method is used.
The mean average over the three-year period is five hours and fifty-five minutes, but the police say this is skewed by a small number of lengthier disappearances.
Using the two other common methods for calculating an average (mode and median) makes the figure a lot lower, though (two hours and two hours fifteen minutes, respectively).
A request for information on how police liaise with telecoms providers whilst dealing with such cases was refused for operational reasons.