Runaways and missing people: Social media is helping local police fight increase in cases
At her wit’s end, Nikki Caps nearly sold her home, bought an RV and wanted to travel the country in search of her missing teenage daughter.
“You feel your heart is ripped out, your world is ending and you’ll never be the same,” Capps said.
About a year ago, Capps’ 15-year-old daughter ran away from the Myrtle Beach area. Horry County police shared the case on social media, asking for the public’s help finding the missing teen. Where was she? Conway? Chester County? Chattanooga?
Not even close: California.
One of her daughter’s friends told Capps via Twitter she thought the teen was in California. Moments later, officers told Capps they believed her daughter was on the west coast and tracked one of the people she was with through Snapchat.
For Nikki Capps, a week of not knowing her daughter’s whereabouts was over. She took the next plane to California and was reunited with her daughter. Sure, there was frustration and anger, but it was mostly a feeling of relief.
“Just to see her face … ” Capps said, struggling to find the next words, eventually giving up.
Social media is an essential tool for police when people go missing. Horry County area police agencies are quick to post about missing people and the public starts to comment almost immediately.
Horry County police Lt. Mark Bonner said the number of comments is “unbelievable.”
“We have found, without a doubt, it is a friend of law enforcement,” Bonner said of social media.
Thanks to the increased awareness generated by social media posts, Horry police officials say they think an uptick in missing people reports is because people are more willing to get the police involved.
In the first two months of 2019, Horry police had 11 reports of missing people. That is up from one report in 2018 and two in 2017 for the same period. There have been 42 runaway reports in January and February this year, up from 34 in 2018 and 19 in 2017.
Social media serves as a force multiplier for Horry County police, Bonner said, providing extra eyes and information for the department.
“It definitely adds to our resources,” Bonner said.
There’s no way to estimate how long it would take to knock on every door in Conway in a search for a missing person, said Conway Police Chief Dale Long. Social media helps solve that conundrum.
“It’s a tremendous help because it reaches such a broad area,” Long said.
Conway police also use social media for reports of missing people and Long said he doesn’t sense an increase. If there is an increase, it could be of issues stemming from opioid abuse, Long said.
Missing people cases often fall into one of two investigative tracks, Long said, with the juvenile’s or at-risk adults being the most notable. An at-risk adult could be an adult with a medical condition.
“That is going to be immediate,” Long said of a police response.
Officers will try to determine the person’s last known location, determine the areas the person frequents, get a recent picture and share the case on social media. Officers will also conduct physical searches and enter the person into a national database.
Though, Capps said in her case she wished information about her daughter was more quickly entered into the database.
The other track for missing people investigations is adults. That is often a slower process as Long explained police have to determine if the person is actually missing or just wants to leave the area.
For example, someone who was living at home in their late-20s and left with their car keys might not be a “true” missing person.
Long said those cases are still investigated in much the same manner. Police will also work to confirm the person is safe even if they just wanted to leave their current living situation.
One popular misnomer is people must wait 48 hours to report or before police can investigate a missing person. While some common sense is needed — Long suggested not contacting police if the school bus is 30 seconds late — if people wait days to report, it can hurt the investigation.
“If we waited 48 hours, we are losing all kinds of leads,” Bonner said.
