Dubai, December 05: Emotional and family problems and financial difficulties are the major reasons for people running away from their homes, according to a top police officer.
Among children who run away, the most common reasons are corporal punishment and abuse, Lieutenant-Colonel Jamal Al Jallaf, Director of the Crime Control Department of Dubai Police, told Khaleej Times recently.
He claimed the emirate’s police have 100 per cent success rate in tracing the missing persons. Of the 131 people who were reported missing in the first nine months of this year, 116 — 58 men and 58 women — were found living with friends or in rented apartments.
He also claimed a significant drop in the number of such cases as 227 people were reported missing in the corresponding period last year.
Most of the people reported missing were Gulf nationals, Emiratis and Asians.
The runaways were mostly in the age group of 15-30. Very few old people were reported missing this year. “One such case was that of an old woman. She was found by the Al Qusais police to have been abandoned by her children actually,” Al Jallaf said.
The police swing into action immediately after receiving a report of any missing person, he said. Usually, the police find the person in a day to a week.
The police usually receive reports of husbands or children running away because of family problems. These reports are initially dealt with as “absent individuals” and if the reported person is not found for months, then the case is classified as missing.
The main reasons given by those found include emotional problems, family disputes and financial difficulties, he said.
The police investigate the reasons and counsel the family to prevent the person from running away again.
Sometimes, bad influence of friends also could be blamed.
Among children, the major reasons are physical abuse and violence, he said. “When a kid is reported missing, we call the family to the station and try to figure out the family environment. In some cases, families have reported children missing from parks or shopping malls,” Al Jallaf said.
“Once the child is traced, we make the family give an undertaking that it would make sure that the child does not repeat this.” The police have created social welfare sections in every police station and a Social Affairs Department with the Criminal Investigation Department to assist these families. The Social Affairs Department only deals with cases of repeated runaways, he said. There have been fewer cases of the same person going missing now as the family concerned and the person are made to sign an undertaking. The police offer family guidance and support in such cases.
If there are signs of abuse, then the department takes an undertaking from the family members not to resort to violence. If violence is found to be the reason, then the police open a case against the family.
Separation from the spouse, especially if the person is married to a foreigner, is also another reason. “For instance, a man sought the assistance of Dubai Police a couple of years ago to find his Emirati father who left home to find his Asian wife in her country. But the father could not find her.”
Al Jallaf said some girls went missing after they were forced to marry someone they did not like. There were also instances of men leaving home after being forced to marry within the family.
–Agencies