OMA supports Missing Persons Week
The Outdoor Media Association has donated a $120,000 outdoor campaign in support of the NSW Police Force and National Missing Persons Week.
The announcement:
An outdoor media campaign for Missing Persons Week, donated by the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) was launched yesterday at NSW Police Force headquarters.
The OMA is supporting NSW Police Force and National Missing Persons Week (NMPW), which runs 1–7 August 2010, for the second year, with a $120,000 campaign.
The campaign focuses on Rista Chanthavixay, who was 15 when she went missing in March 2009 in the western suburbs of Sydney. The donated outdoor media includes taxi backs, shopping centre panels and bus shelters in suburbs near where she went missing and bus shelters and free standing panels in the Sydney CBD.
NMPW is an annual event to raise awareness of the issues and impacts associated with missing people. This year the focus is on Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities with the theme ‘When someone goes missing, a day spent waiting is a day lost’. The theme is a reminder to the community that they shouldn’t wait 24 hours to report someone missing if they fear for the safety of that person.
OMA CEO Charmaine Moldrich said the organisation was proud to support the cause. “We know that outdoor advertising is a highly visible medium that reaches people in their communities and our hope is that the message is seen by someone who can help provide the information needed to find Rista,” she said.
Each year 35,000 people are reported missing in Australia – one person every 15 minutes. While 95 per cent of missing persons are found within a short period of time, the lasting impact, particularly on families, is devastating. The reasons for going missing are many and varied and can include abduction, murder, domestic violence, misadventure, miscommunication, alcohol and illicit drug related problems, family conflict, mental illness and dementia-related illnesses.
Fact Sheet:
• More 35,000 people are reported missing each year in Australia, the equivalent of one report every 15 minutes.
• Approximately 11,000 people are reported missing to police in NSW, 95% of whom are located within a week.
• 98% of people reported missing are located.
• There are currently 789 missing people in NSW, 592 of whom are long term missing people, and 148 of whom are children
• Over 95 per cent of missing persons are located within a short period oftime (usually one week).
• The oldest case on the Missing Persons Unit’s files is the 1954
disappearance of Hope Greneger. Hope would now be 90. Police never give up on locating those who have gone missing.
Source: OMA press release
