The number of missing people increased 27.94 per cent in Sarnia in 2023.
Sarnia Police Chief Derek Davis reported the findings from the Annual Missing Persons Report during Thursday's Police Board Meeting.
In 2023, Sarnia police responded to 348 missing persons investigations, which is up from 272 in 2022.
Davis said there could be other factors on why someone is reported missing.
"Many missing people there's other issues in their lives that come into play, so we're often able to put individuals to different community resources, different support systems," he said.
Davis added that normally it's not someone who has just disappeared.
"We just never know what happens, you start the call with I haven't seen so and so, and we've got to unravel from there and see what the circumstances might be," said Davis.
He explained concerns about addiction and mental health do show in the missing person calls, and there are some repeat calls for the same person.
"We can't treat them any differently," said Davis. "A missing person is a missing person regardless of the history and we investigate to the extent we need to do it."
At this time there are no plans to add a missing persons unit within the Sarnia Police Service, and Davis said the service is able to handle the calls for missing persons.
"We do have individuals assigned to the missing person portfolio but at this time we don't have the resources to develop a dedicated unit," he said.
Davis is reminding people if your loved one has gone missing or you have not heard from them, do not wait to report them.
"The earlier we can start the investigation the more successful we tend to be," he said.
