Here's something pretty disturbing I discovered while researching this podcast.

If someone you love ever goes missing, don't depend on the police.

I'm not saying this to be critical or negative or even to bash the police.

This is what it actually says on the Los Angeles Police Department website.

The site states that the adult missing persons unit investigates 3,200 cases a month and

70% of those missing people are found or returned voluntarily within 2 or 3 days.

It goes on to explain and I quote here, since being a missing person's not a crime, police

are given a very limited role while conducting these types of investigations.

At the bottom of the webpage, it gets more disturbing.

There's a section titled, What if they Never Returned?

And here's the official police advice.

In such situations, you may want to enlist the services of a private investigator to

assist in your search.

If you can't afford a PI, the police elaborate quote, another option would be to contact

the Salvation Army, which has a missing person's locator program.

There is not a single sentence on the LAPD website that would lead a loved one of a missing person

to have any faith that the police would properly investigate it.

But the LAPD is basically saying is, if someone you love goes missing, don't overreact.

They'll probably turn up unless they don't, in which case you should get someone besides

the police to look into it.

All this is my way of saying, if the police took missing persons cases as seriously as they

do, say bank robberies, the one to have had to do this podcast in the first place and

...