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Missing person cases are a global issue impacting policing. Among these, those who abscond from hospitals are especially concerning because these reports require collaboration across services, often strain already limited police and hospital resources and present an elevated level of possible harm due to high prevalence of mental illness, disability and/or addiction. Despite this, to-date, there has been a lack of scholarly attention on this phenomenon from a policing perspective. The present study aims to fill this gap by exploring how far missing hospital patients travel and where they are commonly found.

Using a sample of 731 closed case files (2014–2018) from one police service, we identify spatial behaviour patterns specific to this group of missing persons.

Results suggest that most do not leave the hospital grounds or stay within a 5-km radius. Others were found close to the hospital, within city limits and/or returned of their own volition. By identifying these spatial behaviour patterns associated with missing hospital patients, police can refine probable search areas, allocate resources more efficiently, find the missing faster and develop better-informed responses and collaborative policies.

Our research represents the first empirical investigation into missing persons from hospital settings through a spatial perspective. Through descriptive statistical and spatial analyses, we determine the distance between the hospital a given individual was reported missing from and the location of where they were ultimately found.

This paper explores the various challenges associated with policing cybercrime, arguing that a failure to improve law enforcement responses to cybercrime may negatively impact their institutional legitimacy as reliable first responders. Further, the paper makes preliminary links between cybercrime and the paradigm of evidence-based policing (EBP), providing suggestions on how the paradigm can assist, develop, and improve a myriad of factors associated with policing cybercrime.

Three examples of prominent cybercrime incidents will be explored under the lens of institutional theory: the cyberextortion of Amanda Todd; the hacking of Ashley Madison; and the 2013 Target data breach.

EBP approaches to cybercrime can improve the effectiveness of existing and future approaches to cybercrime training, recruitment, as well as officers' preparedness and awareness of cybercrime.

Future research will benefit from determining what types of training work at the local, state/provincial, and federal level, as well as evaluating both current and new cybercrime policing programs and strategies.

EBP approaches to cybercrime have the potential to improve police responses to cybercrime calls for service, save police resources, improve police–public relations during calls for service, and improve police legitimacy.

This paper links cybercrime policing to the paradigm of EBP, highlighting the need for evaluating and implementing effective evidence-based approaches to policing cybercrime.