700 missing person calls came from 3 locations last year: Saskatoon police

SASKATOON -- The Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) has released its missing persons report for 2020, which shows a decline in reports from 2019.

In 2020, 2,683 people were reported missing, 582 less than in 2019.

The report includes the total number of runaways, repeat runaways and steps the police service has taken to prevent people from going missing.

Habitual missing persons – people who have been reported missing more than once – make up 73 per cent of total missing person reports. In total, the SPS saw 1,950 habitual reports in 2020.

According to the report, 76 per cent of missing people were youth aged 10 to 18. Fifty-eight per cent of the people reported missing were female youth.

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“I think now, we’re better recognizing that the females are more vulnerable in a lot of these situations, especially in our 15 to 18-year-old range," said executive director of the Egadz Youth Center Don Meikle.

The majority of female youths reported were in the 15 to 18-year-old range, making up 62 per cent of reported missing persons.

The SPS said 700 calls were at the same three locations which are described as either government or private care facilities. In total, SPS responded to calls from 710 different locations.

The top two most frequently reported female youth accounted for 50 reports each.