Istanbul police have reunited over 27,000 missing people with their families over the past 2.5 years, using an extensive search system that combines surveillance cameras, digital evidence and specially trained search dogs, according to data shared by the Missing Persons Bureau.

The Missing Persons Bureau under the Istanbul Police Department's Public Security Branch investigates every report with the goal of locating missing individuals as quickly as possible. Once a report is filed, officers immediately begin reconstructing the person's last known movements, examining where they were last seen and identifying possible routes they may have taken.

Investigators rely heavily on footage from the City Security Management System (KGYS) and surveillance cameras from businesses and residential areas. The collected digital evidence is analyzed to map possible movements before search teams are deployed in the field.

In cases involving large forests, open terrain or other difficult-to-access areas, specially trained tracking dogs assist officers in following scent trails. When investigators suspect a missing person may have died, cadaver dogs capable of detecting human remains are also brought into the operation.

Search efforts are coordinated with multiple agencies, including the Intelligence Department and Crime Scene Investigation Department. When necessary, teams also receive support from the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), nongovernmental search-and-rescue organizations and the Coast Guard Command.

If a missing person is found dead, the body is transferred to the Council of Forensic Medicine for identification and examination to determine the cause of death.

Police also work closely with forensic authorities to compare unidentified bodies buried in paupers' cemeteries with long-term missing persons, helping resolve cases that have remained unsolved for years.

Cases and crimes

Officials say the bureau's work extends beyond locating missing people. Investigations that begin as missing person cases sometimes uncover evidence of more serious crimes, leading detectives to launch criminal investigations.

The bureau's figures illustrate the scale of its operations. In 2024, officers located 13,141 people alive, including 9,155 reported missing that year and another 3,986 whose cases dated back to previous years.

In 2025, police found another 9,741 people alive, including 8,681 newly reported missing individuals and 1,060 people who had been missing from earlier years.

The work has continued at the same pace in 2026. During the first six months of the year alone, officers reunited 4,364 people with their families, including 4,217 new missing person cases and 147 people whose disappearances had remained unresolved from previous years.

Altogether, police have safely located 27,246 missing people during the last 2.5 years.

The bureau's investigations have also helped solve serious crimes. Authorities said operations launched after suspicious developments in missing person investigations resulted in four operations in 2024, five in 2025 and seven during the first half of 2026.

Those investigations led to the resolution of 12 murder cases, with all suspects identified and arrested.

Nail Candar, chief of the Missing Persons Bureau, said the unit, which has operated since 1998, not only works to reunite families but also revisits cold cases using modern investigative techniques.

He said advances in technology have enabled investigators to solve cases that once appeared impossible.

"In 2025, we concluded a missing person case that had remained unresolved since 2006," Candar said. "We located the victim's body, and all suspects were arrested and brought to justice."

According to Candar, investigators now routinely re-examine decades-old files using digital analysis and forensic techniques unavailable when the original investigations were conducted.

He added that cases involving children, elderly people and individuals with Alzheimer's disease or dementia receive particular priority because of the heightened risks they face after going missing.

Police officer Hamit Çalışgan, handler of a cadaver search dog named Zeyna, said the dogs play an essential role in both disaster response and criminal investigations.

"When our dog reacts to a location, excavation work begins there. That allows us to recover the bodies of missing people," he said.

Çalışgan described the dogs as partners rather than simply working animals, noting that handlers spend nearly every day training, exercising and caring for them to keep them prepared for demanding operations.

He also recalled serving with Zeyna for 22 days in Hatay following the devastating twin earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş in February 2023.

Meanwhile, scent-tracking dog handler Kerem Yazağan said the animals are especially valuable in cases involving children who cannot communicate or people suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

After allowing a dog to smell an item belonging to the missing person, officers conduct field searches whenever surveillance footage alone is insufficient, following scent trails that may otherwise go unnoticed.