To report a person missing, call 435-4900 or come to the front desk of the Oceanside Police Department. You can call 9-1-1 if the missing person is a juvenile 11 years or younger or the person is missing under suspicious circumstances. Be prepared to provide a recent photo of the missing person, names and phone numbers of friends, and places they frequent.

After the report is taken, the information is disseminated to patrol officers and other local law enforcement agencies. The case is then sent to the Investigations Division where they also attempt to locate the missing person. The investigative staff will begin making phone calls, checking addresses and other locations where the subject is known to frequent.

Tips for parents to help discourage teens from running away:

• Open lines of communication – talk with your teen about what is going on in their life, how school is going, are their grades dropping, have they distanced themselves from long time friends and begun hanging around people you don’t know and/or don’t approve of.
• Take an active role in your teen’s life – know what they are doing, where they are going, and whom they are spending time with.
• Find out if they have a social media accounts and periodically view the page to know what they are posting and who their “friends” are.
• Keep them involved in family activities and have at least one night a week where everyone sits down to dinner together.
• Be highly suspicious of anyone they claimed to have met “online” and discourage this relationship.

What to do if your teen goes missing/runs away:

• Call family, friends, and school officials and verify the teen is not at any of these locations.
• Call the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction and file a missing persons report.
• Provide a recent photo, dental information and any other records requested by the police department.

If you have any information on any missing person, please call 435-4900 or e-mail us at missingpersons@oceansideca.org.

Resources

• Name, Date of Birth, or Driver's License Search - California State Department of Motor Vehicles Communications Programs Division P.O. Box 944247 Sacramento, CA 94244-2470 Phone: (916) 657-8085
• Birth, Death & Marriage Records - Office of State Registrar 304 "S" Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-1719
• Last Employer Search - Social Security Administration Office of Central Records Operations 300 North Green Street Baltimore, MD 21201
• Family Member Search - Salvation Army Missing Persons Locator Service 180 East Ocean Blvd Long Beach, CA 90802 Phone: 800-698-7728

Links

• missingkids.com
• ag.ca.gov/missing
• www.1800runaway.org
• ojjdp.ncjrs.org
• www.amecoinc.org