Episode 6 of the Missing Persons Research Hub podcast features Cpl. Jennifer Sparkes. "Systemic issues associated to risk assessment, unnecessary barriers, poor communication, lack of consultation, failure to triage...” the list of criticisms of police management of missing person investigations is long and familiar. Cpl. Jennifer Sparkes of the RCMP joins us to share how her District mitigates these concerns and directly accounts for each and every missing person investigation in their geographic region using a consistent and coordinated approach to oversight.  Using specialized resources to support and connect police, partners, and families across multiple jurisdictions, this regional model provides an easily accessible communication and information hub for all aspects of missing person investigations. By assessing each case through a consistent lens and advancing investigations in a coordinated fashion, this approach provides complete accountability through readily available, directly-sourced information, some of which challenges widely-held assumptions and beliefs. The result is an evidence-based foundation for the development of protocols, policies, and best practices, with impacts spanning from effective resolution of cases to efficient utilization of police resources to accurately informing public perception.

Cpl. Jennifer Sparkes, who has been an RCMP investigator for 20 years and has spent the past 8 years exclusively specializing in missing person investigations. Cpl. Sparkes is the District Missing Persons and Unidentified Human Remains Coordinator for “E” Division Southeast District, based in Kelowna, British Columbia.

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Follow the Hub on Twitter @MPRHCanada and Instagram @MPRHCanada, or check out www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com.

The Missing Persons Research Hub (the Hub) is a national networking forum and research hub for the field of missing persons in Canada. This podcast is hosted by Lorna Ferguson (@LFrgsn) and features a variety of personnel involved in missing persons work across Canada.

Episode 5 of the Missing Persons Research Hub Podcast features Dr. Laura Huey discussing breaking news on the release of the Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations at Toronto Police Service. Dr. Huey and I have an exceedingly honest conversation and try to answer the question of: will this Review be helpful? We discuss some of the comments and recommendations made throughout the press conference from yesterday (April 13, 2021), and speak bluntly from the perspective of scholars in this field. We then end with some positive comments and key considerations for preventing missingness. 

From The Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations:

"The Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations (the “Review”) was prompted by the tragic deaths of members of Toronto’s LGBTQ2S+ communities and by deep concerns about how the Toronto Police Service (the “TPS”) conducted the investigations into their disappearances.

The Review has been asked to evaluate how the TPS has conducted and is conducting missing person investigations, particularly in relation to LGBTQ2S+ and vulnerable or marginalized communities. The Review has also been asked to make recommendations to promote not only efficient, effective and bias-free investigations, but also better police relations with affected communities. Most important of all, the Review is intended to help bring the community together in looking for answers and fashioning new directions for the future."

Find here: https://www.missingpersonsreview.ca/

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Follow the Hub on Twitter @MPRHCanada and Instagram @MPRHCanada, or check out www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com.

The Missing Persons Research Hub (the Hub) is a national networking forum and research hub for the field of missing persons in Canada. This podcast is hosted by Lorna Ferguson (@LFrgsn) and features a variety of personnel involved in missing persons work across Canada.

Episode 4 of the Missing Persons Research Hub Podcast features Tyler Hooper, the creator of The Missing and Unexplained Podcast. In this episode, Tyler discusses the pros and cons of podcasting in the field of missing persons, highlighting how missing persons and true crime podcasts can both be harmful and helpful. For example, the misinformation and sensationalism often rampant in these types of podcasts has the potential to negatively impact missing person cases. We also talk about how podcasting/podcasters and research/researchers are at a crossroads: can these two distinct but related areas in the field of missing persons work together to collaborate, educate, and bring about greater awareness, and, if so, how?? Tune in to find out.

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Speaker bio:

Tyler Hooper loves telling stories, particularly long-form stories that involve history, the environment, crime, or quirky people. Recently he started his own podcast titled “The Missing and Unexplained Podcast” which primarily looks at missing persons cases and in the future will delve into other topics. You can also listen to the podcast anywhere you get your podcasts.

Personal Website: https://tylerhooperw.com/

Podcast: https://missingunexplainedpod.buzzsprout.com/

Podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissingUnexplainedPod

Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/missingXpod

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Follow the Hub on Twitter @MPRHCanada and Instagram @MPRHCanada, or check out www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com.

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The Missing Persons Research Hub (the Hub) is a national networking forum and research hub for the field of missing persons in Canada. This podcast is hosted by Lorna Ferguson (@LFrgsn) and features a variety of personnel involved in missing persons work across Canada.

Episode 3 of the Missing Persons Research Hub Podcast features Justine Collin-Santerre discussing her research on spatial patterns, solvability, and criminality in missing persons cases. Through these topics, Justine outlines her dissertation work, which combines these three critical themes related to missingness. She also talks about her recent presentation at Criminology Consortium, an international Criminology conference, wherein she talked about her research on typologies of missing persons in the news. 

Speaker bio:

Justine Collin-Santerre is a PhD Student in Criminology at the School of Criminology at Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada. She received her BSc and MSc in Criminology from Université Laval (QC, Canada). Justine's thesis is on missing persons. She specializes in arson, criminal behaviour, latent class analysis, spatial analysis, environmental criminology, sexual offending, persistence of sexual behaviour, wrongful convictions, criminal decisions, police strategies and impacts, and, Aboriginals penal path. Her master's thesis aimed to identify non-serial and serial arsonists' crime scene and motivations, in collaboration with local and provincial police forces. Most of the research projects that she worked on aimed at developing better investigative practices and crime prevention. Her research topic has been published in peer-reviewed journals in her field and has been the subject of many local, national and international presentations. She is currently writing papers on missing persons, sexual offending, arsonists and wrongful convictions.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CS_Justt

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Follow the Hub on Twitter @MPRHCanada or Instagram @MPRHCanada, or check out www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com.

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The Missing Persons Research Hub (the Hub) is a national networking forum and research hub for the field of missing persons in Canada. This podcast is hosted by Lorna Ferguson (@LFrgsn) and features a variety of personnel involved in missing persons work across Canada.

Episode 2 of the Missing Persons Research Hub Podcast features Larissa Kowalski discussing her broad, first insights research into older adults and missingness in Canada. Specifically, Larissa provides a detailed discussed of her thesis that employed a mixed-methods research design to develop a typology for older adults who are reported missing in Canada. She highlights some of its key findings and the identified research gaps. Then, Larissa offers a call to action that anyone involved in the field of missing persons will resonate with. 

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Speaker bio: 

Larissa Kowalski is a social gerontologist with a research and policy focus on aging, quality of life in old age, and home and community-based care for older adults. She has over ten years of experience working in the healthcare and non-profit sector and previously worked as a research associate for the Canadian Society of Evidence-Based Policing where she developed and contributed to emerging research on older individuals who are reported missing. An accompaniment to this work was her identification of risk factors that lead vulnerable, at-risk older adults to go repeatedly missing. She is an advisory committee member for the International Consortium of Dementia and Wayfinding and has presented her research for the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and the Canadian Association on Gerontology, among others. She has liaised with Ontario’s Police College to improve police officers working knowledge of dementia and going missing, and she has worked with BC’s Centre for Missing Persons to discuss challenges in police responses to missing persons. She recently completed her MA in Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, where she used police data and employed a mixed-methods research design to develop a typology for older adults who are reported missing in Canada. Her master’s research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and her work has been published in Policing: An International Journal. She is presently employed at the University of the Fraser Valley’s Community Health and Social Innovation Hub as the Lead Researcher on Individual and Institutional Experiences of Aging and Living with Dementia.

Email: [email protected]

Profile page: https://www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com/larissa-kowalski

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Follow the Hub on Twitter @MPRHCanada and Instagram @MPRHCanada, or check out www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com.

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The Missing Persons Research Hub (the Hub) is a national networking forum and research hub for the field of missing persons in Canada. This podcast is hosted by Lorna Ferguson (@LFrgsn) and features a variety of personnel involved in missing persons work across Canada. 

Episode 1 of the Missing Persons Research Hub Podcast features Detective Sin Kim discussing his research on typologies of missing persons cases. Specifically, Sin outlines the existing research on typologies of missing persons in the Canadian context, the potential benefits of typologies from a policing perspective, and an emerging approach to re-thinking missing persons typologies based on Sin's research. 

Speaker bio:

Sin is a Detective with 18 years experience as a police officer in a variety of positions. Sin’s experiences include complex criminal investigations; acting as a subject matter expert and lead instructor at the police college; re-developing best practices; designing emergency management response strategies; and utilizing intelligence led policing. He is currently interested in police decision making, knowledge management, design thinking, and using an evidence-based policing approach in order to develop best practices that will directly improve community safety. He is passionate about seeking out insights through meaningful data, and is currently researching missing persons as part of the CAN-SEBP Virtual Scholar Program. 

Email: [email protected]

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Follow the Hub on Twitter @MPRHCanada or Instagram @MPRHCanada, or check out www.missingpersonsresearchhub.com.

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The Missing Persons Research Hub (the Hub) is a national networking forum and research hub for the field of missing persons in Canada. This podcast is hosted by Lorna Ferguson (@LFrgsn) and features a variety of personnel involved in missing persons work across Canada.