DAEGU — A missing-person alert text message that many people scroll past led to the safe return of a man with dementia. A resident of Daegu who was out for a walk remembered the description in the text, spotted the missing man in his 50s and called police.
Alerts Helped Find More Than 10,000 Missing People
Missing-person alert texts are playing a significant role in locating people quickly. According to data the Rebuilding Korea Party's Rep. Jung Choon-sook obtained from the Korean National Police Agency, 11,093 people were covered by the alert texts between the system's launch in June 2021 and June of this year.
Over the same period, 11,924 missing people were found. In 2,768 cases, or 23%, a tip from a member of the public who had seen an alert text was the direct reason the person was located.
For people with dementia, people with intellectual disabilities and children found through public tips, the average time to discovery was four hours and 55 minutes. That was shorter than last year's overall averages for all reported missing-person cases: 28.6 hours for children, 27.7 hours for people with intellectual disabilities and 7.6 hours for people with dementia.
Among cases in which an alert was sent, 71.5% were resolved within three hours and 94.7% within a day.
A Walk Through the Neighborhood
On the 23rd, an account by a Daegu resident identified as A, who found a missing person, was posted on social media.
The previous day, the 22nd, A was walking in the Seodaegu-ro area of Daegu's Seo District when a man in a yellow vest walked past.
The missing-person alert A had checked earlier on their phone came to mind. The text included the age and height of a man in his 50s along with a photo showing what he was wearing. In the photo, the man had on a yellow vest printed with the name of a nursing hospital.
A immediately pulled out the phone and checked the text again. When the clothing of the man in front of them matched the photo, A followed him so as not to lose sight of him while calling police.
A also sent police a photo taken at the scene by text message. After staying on the line with officers, the missing man was able to return safely.
"I had just glanced at the missing-person alert and moved on, and then while I was walking, someone matching the description exactly walked right past me," A said, describing the moment. "My hands and feet are still shaking," A added, recalling the tension. A expressed relief that the man had made it back safely.
As the story spread, online commenters wrote that one person's attention had prevented a serious accident, and that they, too, would start paying closer attention to missing-person alerts.
A explained that anyone wanting to see a missing person's photo and detailed information can use the link included in the alert text or the police agency's Safe Dream website.
Proven Effective, but Alert Fatigue Is Setting In
Even as the alerts prove their worth, there is concern that public attention may fade as the messages are sent more often.
Police agency data show the number of alert texts sent rose from 468 in 2021 to 3,147 last year. The share of alerts that led to a discovery through a public tip, meanwhile, fell from 26% in 2022 to 22% last year.
"The missing-person alert was originally designed to draw nearby residents into a search during an emergency," said Kim Young-sik, a professor of police administration at Soonchunhyang University. "Now the alerts go out so broadly that the public has grown somewhat numb to them."
Lee Woong-hyuk, a professor of police science at Konkuk University, offered a similar assessment, saying it is difficult to secure active public attention by relying on text messages alone.
Experts stress that the way the alerts are delivered must improve if the system is to remain effective.
Lee suggested setting the criteria for sending alerts more precisely, pairing them with announcements on local broadcasts, and adding education and outreach to boost public participation. Kim said visual clues that allow people to recognize a missing person are important and that authorities should consider ways to provide photos and related information more effectively.