Virtual chat: Chief Inspector Tim Bonnett

A: The important thing when thinking of children's safety is to know them well. Encourage them to bring friends home so you know who they associate with. Talk to your children and ensure they know that they can share their troubles and concerns with you. Please remember that most children who go missing turn up very quickly. The better you know your child, the quicker it is likely to be that they are found if they do wander off.

Q: When a child goes missing, what are the guidelines you follow? Is there a timescale involved?
Shaz

A: When a child is reported missing, the police will take urgent action, particularly if the child is very young. When a child is missing for an extended time, many investigative options will be considered, one of which will be the UK Missing and Exploited Children Web Site, uk.missingkids.com. There are no hard and fast rules about a child being featured except that it must be with the full consent of the officer dealing with the case and the family.

We have featured cases within hours and also have cases that are years old. In the latter case, we can use age progression to create a picture of how the child may look now. The key advantage of the website is that it means that a child's picture can be publicised to police and the public anywhere very quickly. Police computers do not have the same image capability yet.

Q: I have a little boy who is six and I dread to think what would happen if he just disappeared one day. What can we do to educate our children against this? What can we do to help the children who are already out there?
Blinxmum

A: The important thing when educating a child on safety issues is to make them know that they can tell you about themselves safely. If you have a caring relationship with your child, you will see danger signals early and react to them.

In terms of those who are on the streets, it is not easy to generalise. I know when I was a young PC on the beat that many of the 'street people' have interesting and sometimes tragic stories to tell. Many of them gain a lot from people treating them as real people. If you see a young person on the street, it may well be worth mentioning this to the police. Any young person on the streets is at risk even if they are there by choice.