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French Police End Missing Persons Searches, Suggest Using Facebook

Posted by timothy on from the hire-a-stalker dept.

itwbennett writes "According to an announcement on a French government website, police have stopped current searches for missing adults and will not accept new search requests. 'Such 'searches in the interests of the family' were conducted under an administrative procedure almost a century old, introduced to help families separated during the upheavals of World War I to find missing relatives,' according to the French Ministry of the Interior. In a letter to police chiefs announcing the changes, the Ministry advised them to instead 'direct people towards social networks on the Internet, which offer interesting possibilities.'"

7 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. So once again... by DigitalReverend · · Score: 5, Funny

    the French surrender.

    --
    I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
    1. Re:So once again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nothing to see here. The French procedure does not correspond to that used in the US. Searches for children or persons who are clearly in danger continue.

  2. And stolen things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Should be looked for on ebay.

  3. Re:HELP!!! by spongebue · · Score: 5, Informative

    As the description of this says, this applies to adults. I'll admit I didn't RTFA, but I assume that means nothing will change with regards to children.

  4. Sensationalist summary by 200_success · · Score: 5, Informative

    The summary is missing the important qualifier "... unless the person may be in danger". So, apparent abductions and unexplained disappearances would still get police assistance like you would expect.

    1. Re:Sensationalist summary by ColdCat · · Score: 5, Informative

      It change almost nothing.
      This law was to find your family members after long lost of contacts (years). It was to help family member reconnect after end of WW1 WW2 and after the end of colonisation in Asia and Africa. The administration do the research find the person, the ask him/her if he want to reconnect with you and if he/she wants give you the address. It's stopped because fewer and fewer people use it in the last decade.

      If someone is missing, police still do the research.
      If Someone need to be found to pay kids pension, to helps his/her parents, for fraud or taxes evasion, or even for some kind of family Inheritance there are others laws.

  5. Re:HELP!!! by bws111 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem seems to be in the phrase 'missing person', which I guess is a translation thing. When people hear 'missing person', they think of someone who has suddenly disappeared - didn't come home from work, etc. Those cases they will still investigate, of course. What they are no longer doing is helping to find a person you have lost contact with (and I can't imagine their are many police forces in the world that would help with that under normal circumstances).