Missing Persons Cases in Germany | Search for Missing Persons by Private Detectives from Bremen

Almost all missing persons cases are eventually resolved – but “eventually” often means too late.

According to statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), between 250 and 300 people are reported missing every day. Although around half of these missing persons cases are resolved within one week, 80 per cent within the first month and an astonishing 97 per cent within the first year after the missing person report, not all cases can naturally be concluded positively. This may be because the persons concerned wish to disappear, or because they are meant to disappear in cases of murder, abduction or life insurance fraud – and particularly in the latter constellation, urgency is of course required. Despite the high clearance rates of the BKA, the private and corporate detectives of Kurtz Investigations Bremen are comparatively often approached with requests to clarify the disappearance of beloved family members and friends, because in these cases time can save lives.

 

Among other things, because the BKA discontinues its searches for missing persons after a maximum of 30 years, relatives and friends are often left with no other option thereafter than to turn to detective agencies if, at such a late point in time, there is still hope of locating the person concerned or at least the possibility of finally learning the truth. However, even persons who have only recently disappeared often puzzle the police and the BKA, which is why relatives turn to our private detectives in Bremen at an early stage in order to obtain help and achieve the location of the missing person: +49 421 3679 9066.

When Is Someone Considered “Missing” and When “Missing and Presumed Dead”?

The term “missing”, in contrast to so-called “missing and presumed dead” (official status designation), is a rather vaguely defined term. “Missing” is a term used in common language, but not legally exploitable, for something or someone who has disappeared, without the term defining this disappearance in more detail. Under German law, a person is deemed missing and presumed dead if no sign of life has been received from them for ten years (or five years for persons over 80 years of age); exceptions apply to missing soldiers (one year after the end of a war), aircraft and ship disasters (six and three months respectively). Classification as missing and presumed dead entails a declaration of death of the missing person under German law, whereas a missing person is not necessarily declared dead.

 

The classification as missing or missing and presumed dead plays no role in the deployability of our detectives in Bremen, as they are committed in any case to locating the disappeared persons.

Criminal Police and Detective Agencies in the Search for Missing Persons

Missing persons cases as dealt with in many different early evening formats of private television channels are not included in the missing persons statistics published by the BKA, but almost always – with the exception of a few individual cases – constitute a small part of person searches that are intended to bring about a rediscovery after loss of contact with the help of said television formats or indeed Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen. Truly missing persons who disappear from one moment to the next from their home, school, workplace or while travelling, often suggesting a criminal offence or a deliberate running away, are, by contrast, an everyday component of the investigations of the BKA and private and corporate detective agencies.

 

Even though the disappearance of children and adolescents – particularly during rebellious phases – can often be clarified quickly (frequently within a week or just a few days), a positive result cannot always be achieved. Rare individual cases, which ultimately conceal abductions, murders or cover-up actions such as life insurance fraud cases, require special sensitivity and specialist knowledge, which our trained corporate detectives from Bremen possess. While the criminal police, due to the sheer number of cases combined with chronic staff shortages, are often, if not always, overstretched and frequently cannot contribute in a timely manner to clarifying the disappearance of persons, detectives intervene where a case may no longer be given the necessary attention or important details remain unnoticed or are dismissed as insignificant.

Child Abduction or Child Abduction by a Parent?

While, for example, in 2012, of 6,319 cases of missing children (up to and including 13 years of age), fortunately 6,300 cases and thus almost 100 per cent could be clarified by the BKA, it is apparent that the remaining 19 cases (which may in some instances date back up to 30 years) are largely attributable to child abductions by one of the holders of custody rights and so-called “unaccompanied refugee children”. In order to ensure the safety of the children and further (criminal) police investigations, even in known cases of child abduction the term “missing persons case” is used as long as a risk to the child cannot be ruled out. In the 852 cases that, since the first registration of missing children in 1951, have not been resolved to this day, it must be feared that the children became victims of a criminal offence or an accident, that they are dead or that they are in a so-called “situation of helplessness” (BKA designation).

The Versatile Deployment of Detectives in Missing Persons Cases

The figures for missing adults largely resemble those for missing children, meaning that although an enormous proportion of missing persons cases can be resolved, there are still individual cases in which the investigative work of Kurtz Investigations Bremen decisively complements or even surpasses that of the criminal police. Regardless of the type of missing persons case presented to us, our detectives from Bremen are equally committed and not only assist with long-awaited family reunions and with locating sought-after friends from childhood days, but also with child abductions by one parent, suspected abductions and in all cases of other suspected criminal offences. Private detectives have different scopes of action than the authorities and are staffed to devote the necessary attention to the case.

 

A valuable tool of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen for locating missing persons are mantrailer dogs, which use organic scent traces of the missing person for a highly precise tracking search and achieve an impressive hit and clearance rate. Those affected can contact the IHK-certified detectives of Kurtz Investigations Bremen at any time during our business hours to discuss, plan and ultimately carry out the detailed procedure in their specific case: +49 421 3679 9066 or kontakt@kurtz-detektei-bremen.de.

Author: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen

Hollerallee 26

D-28209 Bremen

Tel.: +49 421 3679 9066

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-bremen.de

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