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Speaker 1: Now we know the Australian Federal Police shining a light

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Speaker 1: on long term missing women this National Missing Person's Week

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Speaker 1: and they're calling on the Australian public to come forward

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Speaker 1: with new information that could help provide answers to their

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Speaker 1: loved ones. The AFP has launched the Always Searching campaign.

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Speaker 1: It focuses on eight cases of missing women from around Australia.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line is AFP Commander Joanne Cameron.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, commander.

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Speaker 3: Oh, good morning, Katie, Thanks so.

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Speaker 2: Much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Now can you tell me a bit more about this

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Speaker 1: year's campaign, Thanks very.

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Speaker 3: Much, Katie. Yes, every year across Australia we have a

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Speaker 3: National Missing Person's Week and each year it's about promoting,

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Speaker 3: commemorating with those families of long term missing persons and

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Speaker 3: reaching out, as you mentioned, to the Australian community about

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Speaker 3: any information that they might hold in relation to somewhat

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Speaker 3: that has gone missing. Yeah, this year it's about a

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Speaker 3: campaign called Always Searching because it highlights the fact that

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Speaker 3: police constantly, over the years, sadly sometimes decades, are always

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Speaker 3: looking for new clues, new avenues of inquiry to help

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Speaker 3: resolve any of our long term missing case load.

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Speaker 1: Are you able to tell me a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about the eight missing women that have been focused on

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Speaker 1: this year.

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Speaker 3: We've obviously reached we sorry. We work with our state

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Speaker 3: and territory police partners very closely under our National Missing

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Speaker 3: Person's Coordination Center, which is housed housed by the AFP.

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Speaker 3: It's important to know that each of those specific cases

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Speaker 3: led by each state and territory police service. I know

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Speaker 3: in Northern Territory there the case of Angie Lee Fuller,

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Speaker 3: who went missing last February in twenty twenty three, is

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Speaker 3: the case that's been raised this year for you know,

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Speaker 3: a reach out to the community. Now. Of course, eight

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Speaker 3: cases is very sadly a very small number of the

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Speaker 3: over two and a half thousand caseload of long term

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Speaker 3: cases that we are working and holding across Australia, and

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Speaker 3: I do encourage anyone to reach to our website missing

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Speaker 3: persons dot gov dot au, which holds a whole lot

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Speaker 3: of information there that people might be interested in reading.

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Speaker 1: Joanne, what work happens as part of missing missing person's

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Speaker 1: work to try and sort of hopefully glean a bit

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Speaker 1: more light and find a bit of info or maybe

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Speaker 1: someone's got a piece of info. I guess that could

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Speaker 1: really assist in trying to find not just the eight

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Speaker 1: women that are being focused on, but all of those

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Speaker 1: missing persons throughout Australia.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess that's that's a great opportunity to let

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Speaker 3: me join with your listeners here today to really just

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Speaker 3: promote the gravity of this situation. The cost of going

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Speaker 3: missing to Australian community really can't be underestimated. You can

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Speaker 3: only imagine the situation that families and loved ones find

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Speaker 3: themselves in where it's very ambiguous whether to continue to

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Speaker 3: hold out hope that one day their loved one might

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Speaker 3: return or grieve because they're left with no answers to

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Speaker 3: the situation. And so you know, we're always out there,

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Speaker 3: no matter how small that piece of information might be.

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Speaker 3: And it could be that people have sat knowing something

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Speaker 3: for many years and really have never shared it. And

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Speaker 3: it's important we know that crime stoppers can hold information

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Speaker 3: and you can report it anonymously and if that's what

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Speaker 3: people think they need to do, I really do implore

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Speaker 3: them to do that, and that's through a call to

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Speaker 3: one eight hundred three triple zero, or it could be

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Speaker 3: going to the Crime Stoppers website.

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Speaker 1: Commander, you touched on this just Seine. You know, I

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Speaker 1: cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like

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Speaker 1: for a family if you lose, you know, a loved

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Speaker 1: one you and you don't know where they are, you

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Speaker 1: don't know what has happened to them. What is it

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Speaker 1: like for you guys? For the police then sort of

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Speaker 1: going out to those families and trying to find their

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Speaker 1: loved ones when they've gone missing, sometimes under goodness knows

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Speaker 1: what kind of circumstances.

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Speaker 3: You're right there, Katie. It is a whole range of

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Speaker 3: different circumstances that people might go missing, and I guess

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Speaker 3: I might just touch on that for a moment. The

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Speaker 3: reasons people choose to go missing can be really complex, complex,

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Speaker 3: and it could be quite a variety of reasons, and

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Speaker 3: we do acknowledge. I make this, I make this prominent point.

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Speaker 3: Going missing is not a crime, and when police become involved,

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Speaker 3: it's not because that person's in trouble. It's the police

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Speaker 3: are there to try and help find them and keep

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Speaker 3: them safe. That's our sole purpose for being brought in

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Speaker 3: and another missold lock to sort of bust. Here is it?

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Speaker 3: People sometimes think they have to wait twenty four hours

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Speaker 3: or something like that. You do not if you'll love

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Speaker 3: one is out of character in their behavior and they're

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Speaker 3: not where they say they would be, and you hold

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Speaker 3: concerns for their safety and you're concern for them their

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Speaker 3: well being, that's the time to call police, because the

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Speaker 3: sooner we can get involved, the sooner States and territory

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Speaker 3: police can undertake those early lines of inquiry, and in

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Speaker 3: the vast, vast majority of cases of missing we locate

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Speaker 3: people safe and well, which is fantastic. It is as

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Speaker 3: we highlight this year, the long term missing person's caseload

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Speaker 3: is something that we do like to highlight, and we

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Speaker 3: do implore anyone who might know anything about someone who's

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Speaker 3: missing to let us know.

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Speaker 1: Now, where's the best way that people can sort of

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Speaker 1: do that? Is it by contacting crime stoppers? Is that

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Speaker 1: the best step in the first instance.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it is. The AFP hosting the Nation Missing Persons

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Speaker 3: Coordination Unit is only there to support the state and

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Speaker 3: territory police. It's the state and territory police that hold

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Speaker 3: the cases and that are that are there with the

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Speaker 3: families day in, day out, and so crime stopps is

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Speaker 3: always the best angle the best approach to take if

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Speaker 3: you've got something to share.

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Speaker 1: Well, AFP Commander Joanne Cameron, I really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us, and thanks for the

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Speaker 2: work that you're doing. Thank you very much, thank you,