The Cleveland Police Department is grappling with a concerning rise in missing children cases, as nearly thirty children have been reported missing within just two weeks.
Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy has revealed that at least 27 children have been reported missing in the span of two weeks between May 2 and May 16.
Chief Majoy, who also serves as the board president for the organization Cleveland Missing, has expressed deep concern over the rising number of disappearances among children aged 12 to 17, describing the situation as reaching “unprecedented levels” in 2023.
“There’s always peaks and valleys with missing persons, but this year it seems like an extraordinary year,” Majoy told Fox News Digital.
“For some reason, in 2023, we’ve seen a lot more than we normally see, which is troubling in part because we don’t know what’s going on with some of these kids, whether they’re being trafficked or whether they’re involved in gang activity or drugs,” he added.
Independent reported:
According to the police chief, the majority of the cases were likely runaways, but he feared that young teenagers could also have fallen victim to predators, who could be “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.
There were a total of 56 active missing children cases in Cleveland as of mid-May.
Most of the disappearances do not make the news unless there is an Amber Alert, he lamented, adding that solving the cases becomes difficult because often there is a lack of photos of the victims.
Mr Majoy emphasised that he has never seen such high numbers of missing children in his 33-year career.
“It’s a silent crime that happens right under our noses,” he said.
“The problem is where are they? Where do they go? They can be in a drug house or farmed to prostitution or caught up in drug trafficking or gangs.”
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