1. National Centre for Missing Persons & Unidentified Remains
Centre national pour les personnes disparus et restes non identifiés
Themes for the session: Advancing Partnerships Between Law Enforcement and Subject Matter Experts and Developing a Strategic Research Agenda 1

2. Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children/Behavioural Science Branch
National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre
Truth Verification
Behavioural Sciences Branch
National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR)
Strategic and Operational Support Services
Program Research and Develop Unit supports all program areas

3. NCMPUR
2010 Federal Budget - funding for development of national centre (Missing Children Registry since 1988)
Established in 2011: incorporates National Missing Children Operations, National Missing Persons, Unidentified Remains
2018 – National Missing Person DNA Program
Provides law enforcement, medical examiners, and chief coroners with specialized investigative services in support of missing persons and unidentified remains investigations

4. NCMPUR Mandate
Provide specialized services to missing persons and unidentified remains investigators (i.e.: national public website – profiles and allows public to submit tips)
Enhance effectiveness and intelligence building (i.e.: MC/PUR police DB, enhanced comparative analysis)
Develop training for police (i.e.: best practices in investigations of MP/UR)
Assist in investigative comparisons

5. Program Research and Development Unit
To engage in operationally-relevant research to support investigations; importance of academic partnerships
Primary Objectives:
Identify operationally-relevant research needs
Evaluate programs, services and approaches
Establish network of experts
Disseminate knowledge to the local level
Encourage youth engagement

6. NCMPUR Research Agenda
Pockets of research across Canada and internationally
Collaboration across law enforcement and/or academic partners unknown
Need for more research continually noted by police and academics
Assessment of current state of knowledge was required

7. Developing NCMPUR Research Agenda
Extensive literature review (“environmental scan”) of current state of Missing Persons research
Canadian and international perspectives
Focus areas of e-scan included:
Definitions
Prevalence
Demographic trends and characteristics
Strategies, techniques and issues in investigations

8. Objectives of the Environmental Scan
Provide an overview of current state of research
Identify areas of research that are/should be linked to investigative practice
Recognize opportunities wherein law enforcement and subject matter expert collaboration would be beneficial and possible

9. Research Gap: Missing Persons Study
Canada: Samples that meet specific criteria (e.g., uncleared cases only); Overuse of police data
Globally: Large-scale studies focus mostly on youth; Limited number of variables examined in studies involving adults (data availability)
Obtain large sample of case files from agencies directly
- Code files: behaviour prior to missing, substance abuse, mental health problems

10. Investigative Decision Support Guide
- Many Canadian police services use informal “risk assessment” – unclear if based on empirical findings
Structure and content of assessments vary per agency
No Canadian research has systematically examined the risk of different outcomes (e.g., death) on the basis of case information
Focuses on “missing” group as a whole - Perhaps risk profiles differ for different groups? Heterogeneity of sample could be hiding important risk differences (youth vs. adults?)

11. Multi-Discipline, Multi-Agency Missing Person Investigative Initiative
Two sessions thus far
Identification of Subject-matter experts: open call
Objectives: (1) development of innovative, evidence-based approaches or practices for missing persons and unidentified remains (MP/UR) investigations; (2) support the standardization of the investigative response to MP/UR across Canada; and, (3) identify knowledge or expertise gaps
Development of resource document

12. Canada’s Missing website

13. Tips
Public able to print posters from the website which include the contact options
The NCMPUR manages the national box

14. Ongoing Priorities 1) National Research Agenda
Continually evaluate progress in MP/UR research
Different focus areas as they emerge as priorities
2) Translating research into investigative practice
Most effective method for disseminating research
3) Communication/Access – researchers, services, SMEs
Facilitate ease with which research findings/techniques can be identified, implication for practice assessed, and applied to policing
Facilitate formation of useful and timely collaborations

15. Contact Information
Insp. Roland Gosselin, Officer in Charge, NCMPUR
Dr. Roberta Sinclair, Manager, PRDU