So you say a foreigner's missing?

[ichbinjenny]

Your roommate hasn’t come home in a few days and you’re starting to get worried. Good. According to some forumosan’s, you’ve now become a…

@mike_rophonechecker

decent human.

You’re probably wondering…
Did she go out and fall in a ditch?
Did she decide to travel around the island on a whim?
Did she meet the love of her life and run away to his family’s duck farm?

Regardless, if you don’t do something, no one else might. So, here’s a little list on what you should do, based on my own experience of finding a missing person.

1. Call and email your “missing person.” Call their boss, their teacher, their friends.

2. If you live with the person, check the bathroom for his/her toothbrush. Most likely, if they took the toothbrush or some other important toiletry items, they are on a planned adventure and just forgot to tell you (or purposely didn’t say anything so you wouldn’t ask to come along). Then, check for a camera, wallet, or prescription medications – no one in a right mind travels without these things.

3. Post of Forumosa. Don’t post on “Where can I find,” even though you technically are looking for someone. I guess it’s best to post in the Temporary Forum.

4. Google his/her name. Make sure it’s typed correctly. See if they have a facebook or some other social networking account. Maybe they keep a blog. Are they twittering about the great view from YangMingShan?

5. Call the hospitals and see if any foreigner has been admitted. Your friend might have been in an accident, or found by another good Samaritan but they have no documented connection to you and therefore you were not alerted to their situation.

[OK, by now, you haven’t gotten a call back or can’t see any action on their blog. A day or two have passed. Now it’s time to start worrying.]

6. Gather up a passport number, ID number, some personal info…anything you can find on this person. Call their boss or school for any info they might have. You’ve been watching CSI since moving here – New York, Miami AND Las Vegas – so put those skills to use.

[You can call the Foreigner Hotline, but they’re just going to tell you to call the police.]

7. Go to the police station. They’re not going to do anything, but just go there and tell them the situation. They might call and help you to do the next few steps, or might just tell you to do it yourself.

8. Go to or call the person’s home country representative. If American, call the AIT (AIT/Taipei: No.7, Lane 134, Sec. 3, XinYi Rd., Da-an District, Taipei City 10659 , Taiwan TEL: +886 (02) 2162-2000).

Tommy525 said that “if the AIT asks the Taiwan police to do a blanket search, they will.” So, Demand the search.

8b. Call the person’s home country TECO office. They can check to see if your person is in their records – maybe they got a scholarship to Tai Da and they can help you – but most likely, they’ll not be able to do anything. BUT, they should know what’s going on.

9. Go to the National Immigration Agency. You’ll fill out a missing person’s report.

內政部入出國及移民署
NATIONAL IMMIGRATION AGENCY
100-66台北市廣州街15號
NO.15,GUANGJHOU ST.,JHONGJHENG DISTRICT, TAIPEI CITY 100-66, TAIWAN (R.O.C.).
‧服務時間：各地服務站：星期一至星期五 08:00-17:00中午不休息‧業務相關單位地址電話
‧移民署總機電話：(02)2388-9393‧ ext 5035
外國人在台生活服務專線：國內:0800-024-111 國外:886-800-024111
‧服務信箱

*This was as far as I got in my search, as my “missing person” ended up being on an unannounced trip and not missing at all.

If anyone is in the unfortunate situation of reaching this far and needing to continue, please update the post. I speak for the rest in offering a big hug and telling you: You’re doing what’s right.

---

Now, some words of wisdom from my initial post, to help you keep your purpose…

@mike_rophonechecker

Please don’t confuse sticking your nose in with being a decent human. You are being a decent human, and if she has gone on an island wide trip then you can shout at her with relief in your heart when she gets back. For now alert everyone. You could be saving a life.

[quote=“tommy525”]YOu are doing the right thing. Somethings amiss here. Call out all the forces. CAll her parents and have them come over as well. Have them get an American detective too. Better all the troops are called out for a false alarm then having her in danger.

I wouldve hit the panic button when she didnt show up the next day.[/quote]

(Well, don’t call the parents outright…in my opinion. Your missing person might show up in a day, and you’ll be unnescessarily worring the folks. Also, as Mike says, the police or AIT or the officials will call the parents.

@mike_rophonechecker

Some people do like to just be freespirits or as I say thoughtless cunts. … Let the cops call the parents. Just get the word out there that she is missing.

I have no idea really what this next one means, but i love the guy. He makes me laugh.

@ceevee369

Let’s just hope this story is heading the same way as Pedro Gonzalez Amador Esperanza called “Paco” who was missing in action for a while…

It might be too late for this, but once you’re reunited, it’s time to exchange phone numbers…

@tommy525

I guess that roomies should all have cell phones and an agreement to keep in touch with other roomies on at least a once a 24 hour period?

And make sure when your person returns, you give them a hug and then a thorough "ma"ing for scaring the bajeezus out of you.

[housecat]

Whew!!! Thank goodness your roomie is back safe and sound and I do hope whatever she was up to was worth the worry and concern on an international scale~! Sometimes, nothing says, “I care” like a good toung lashing!

[ichbinjenny]

I might say now that I worried too much over nothing, but my motto is “better safe than sorry.”

She was new in Taiwan and for all I knew had made friends with someone who took advantage of her.

I hope this post is filed away and doesn’t need to be updated for a long, long time. :+)

[Stray_Dog]

Great info.

Now, can you post how to make one go missing?

[Juba]

@ichbinjenny

If you live with the person, check the bathroom for his/her toothbrush. Most likely, if they took the toothbrush or some other important toiletry items, they are on a planned adventure and just forgot to tell you (or purposely didn’t say anything so you wouldn’t ask to come along). Then, check for a camera, wallet, or prescription medications – no one in a right mind travels without these things.

This is why Fred Frontier’s disappearance is still a puzzle. He went on a planned trip to Hualian and disappeared. He was an experienced outdoorsman, but he left his hiking boots in Taibei, suggesting he wasn’t planning a walk into the wilderness. He went for a stroll in the hills - or somewhere - nobody knows - with his passport but left his camera and wallet in the hostel. He didn’t have a mobile phone, nor any flatmates to report him missing, because he’d only been in Taiwan for three days, and the hostel didn’t report him missing either.

The other point is that even if you know the trip was planned, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry.

[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/fred-frontier-part-2/10519/1 Frontier Part 2