THIS week, I want to highlight some of the extensive work we do around missing persons.

Since April 2023, we have dealt with 255 reports of people missing in East Lothian, which is a figure which is slightly down on the previous year; however, nonetheless it is a big part of the work my officers do day-to-day.

Frequently we receive these reports from concerned family members, friends, neighbours or our partners and then it is our job to locate the person. Thankfully, on most occasions people are traced safe and well, and given the support they need; however, occasionally and tragically, this is not always the case and fatalities do occur.

On each occasion, we receive a report, the circumstances are logged on our National Missing Person Database in order that the investigation can be recorded and, if the same person goes missing again, we are able to quickly access relevant information on how to find them.

I know a number of residents observed our police helicopter flying over Aberlady on Tuesday evening last week and this was in relation to a report of a missing person, who was thankfully found safe and well using the infra-red camera on board the helicopter. This is just one such example of the specialist resources we are able to call upon in order to help our local officers, not to mention the invaluable support we receive from partners such as mountain rescue, HM Coastguard and RNLI to name but a few.

Those of you who live around Musselburgh will perhaps have also noted the police search activity that has been ongoing in the area since early January in relation to Daniel Fraser, from the Drylaw area of Edinburgh, who went missing in the early hours of January 7 and was last seen in the area of Musselburgh Racecourse. Sadly, on Sunday search teams located the body of a man we believe to be Daniel in water within Musselburgh Lagoons. I know that this has been a long and distressing time for Daniel’s family and our thoughts are very much with them.

These recent cases highlight the fact that people of all ages can go missing in a variety of circumstances. Some of these can be attributed to various illnesses and conditions such as dementia.

Since 2017, the Herbert Protocol has been used many times to help police and other agencies quickly and safely locate missing people who have dementia. Following its introduction in Scotland, the Herbert Protocol has been used many times to trace missing people with dementia and return them home. It is another example of how emergency and care services are working together to keep those with dementia safe.

If you know of anyone with this condition please visit scotland.police.uk/what-s-happening/missing-persons/the-herbert-protocol and download the Herbert Protocol form, as this important step could be the difference in helping us find that person alive.