As We See It

Metro’s Missing Persons Detail sees thousands of cases every year

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Three case of three women found last week after being held for years by their captor in a Cleveland home has raised questions about missing persons cases.
Photo: Tony Dejak/AP

Three missing women were found last week, after being held by their captor in a Cleveland home for roughly a decade.

The abductees’ police rescue has raised quite a few questions—questions about how class and race affect which cases go unsolved, questions about the kidnapper’s motive and background, questions about what exactly happened in the that small Ohio house during the horrific ordeal.

And as milk-carton missing notices aren’t exclusive to Ohio, we had another question: What about missing persons in Las Vegas?

According to Las Vegas Metro Public Information Officer Bill Cassell, Metro’s Missing Persons Detail sees 6,000 to 8,000 cases per year. He also says that 60 to 70 percent of those cases concern juveniles.

“And the majority of those are solved very, very quickly,” says Cassell, adding that children often return home and sometimes aren’t even missing but instead are at an unapproved sleepover.

As for adults, an average of five to seven are reported missing each day, according to Metro’s website. Cassell adds that the detail hasn’t seen anything like the Cleveland case locally.

“We’ve got a dedicated Missing Persons Detail. We’ve got a sergeant and 10 detectives, and that’s their job,” says Cassell, adding that some details across the country will also work other cases such as homicides and burglaries. “We solve a lot of cases.”

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