Child reported missing, located by police

A seven-year-old reported missing by parents last Wednesday was located by police at River Park.

Police Chief Jamie Blunden said they reported not having seen him in three hours.

"We put on a search and started looking around, and our officers were able to go over and they actually found the individual over at Riverside Park at the splash pad," he explained. "It turned out that the seven-year old had told his brother to notify the parents that he was going to be gone and that never happened." 

Blunden noted it's actually a myth that you need to wait 24 hours to report a missing person.

"We would look at the each individual case and its values and the details behind it," he shared. "So if we have somebody that usually goes away for the weekend, and they haven't heard from them, and you know it all depends on how it transpires, if it's out of the ordinary for the individual. We take it case by case, and there's no such thing as a 24-hour rule. If you have somebody expected home for supper and also that person doesn't show up and also now becomes 9:00 o'clock and 10:00 o'clock, and the person is totally out of the ordinary, it's wise to phone the police, and then we start sort of looking into things."

He said they also ask the individuals to use due diligence and make some phone calls themselves. 

"If somebody been missing for 10 hours, and circumstances dictate that there's some urgency to it, then we certainly deal with that as it came up."