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Cleveland midyear crime report shows increase in missing person cases

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Posted at 10:48 PM, Aug 17, 2022
and last updated 2022-08-17 23:26:18-04

CLEVELAND — Cleveland's midyear crime report shows the city's current numbers in its fight against crime are down in some categories like arrests and 911 calls, but missing persons cases are up drastically.

As of June of last year, Cleveland had eight active cases. As of June of this year, the city reported 45 more, with the eight of them carrying over from 2021 for a total of 53 cases.

John Majoy and Cleveland Missing pair families with resources to find their loved ones.

“I don’t know what it’s like to feel like them [family members whose loved one is missing], I don't want to ever know what they feel like, but if I’m able to help people like them or anyone else that is my goal,” said Majoy. “This is what I want to do and that’s what I've been doing for the past 30 plus years."

While the numbers are high, Majoy says the public's concern is too and more people are reporting their loved ones missing than before.

“I think the big change this year is because of a great awareness, a great reporting of missing people and social media accounts of people putting it out there," said Majoy.

Cleveland Police Chief Wayne Drummond acknowledged the numbers are high and CPD is actively investigating every case but said the data doesn't paint a full picture.

“The vast majority of them [people missing] are juveniles or runaways and the vast majority actually make their way back home and then we make the reports to take them out of the system and sometimes when the missing person returns they don't call us," said Drummond.

Cleveland Police data shows that in the first half of 2021, 966 people who were initially missing were updated as returned, and this year that number is just over 1,200 people returned.

“Most of the individuals we are able to locate or most of the individuals come back on their own, and then we are able to remove them from the system," said Drummond.

Majoy said that not everyone returns home, especially as our world comes out of the height of the pandemic.

“We're seeing a lot more runaways than we normally would’ve seen because these folks can become victims without even knowing it to human trafficking, drug or who knows what," said Majoy.

If your loved one is missing and you're looking for resources, Cleveland Missing can help. CLICK HERE for more information.

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