19-y-o reported missing OK, was off grid

Stephen Smith, a resident of Kitson Town, was last seen in Old Harbour on September 15 after which relatives became concern of his whereabouts.

Eleven days later after he was last seen, Old Harbour News published an article regarding his disappearance.

• Missing 19-y-o last seen in Old Harbour

Roughly 24 hours after our publication, a relative informed Old Harbour News that the young man contacted the family and advised that he was OK and doing just fine.

The relative further stated that Smith told them he was off-grid because his mobile phone isn’t working.

Now that Smith’s family can breathe a sigh of relief, at least one security expert has offered a few basic safety tips in the event of such eventuality.

Speaking to Old Harbour News, Corporal William Graham, said: “What you want to do is to establish who are your concern relatives and friends. Those are the persons who you live with or very close to. Those are the persons who you want to let them know where you are and your expected time to return. It could be two days, it could be three days, it could by five days.

“In this case his cell phone is down. And in this case where your cell phone is down it is your responsibility to reach out to those same concern persons if you are safe. If you have changed plans it is very important that you update them because they are already concern so you want to update them.”

Graham, who is the officer in charge of community safety and security for Old Harbour, added: “Peradventure if you have some difficulties, whether you were arrested, you may be in an accident, but something came up that you are not in control of, these same set of persons you want to try to reach out to them as early as possible or reach out to someone who knows them as early as possible.

“I have a system that I setup if I don’t see my close family members by a certain time when they are supposed to be home, that’s the time I start calling. If I know that they are out, I would give them their privacy because people do need their privacy to enjoy their time out. This person needs to know what are the concern times. They need to know at what time my family will start checking up on me. And when that time passes or is about to pass they need to give their family an update.”