Minnesota Missing Children

Minnesota's missing child system is run by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the state investigative agency inside the Department of Public Safety, which keeps the Minnesota Missing and Unidentified Persons Clearinghouse and administers the AMBER Alert plan. Reports go to the city police or the county sheriff, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can post the case nationally once the police enter it in the FBI's database and the family or the agency agrees. There is no waiting period.

Minnesota's Brandon's Law, passed in 2009 after the disappearance of Brandon Swanson, requires police to take a missing person report without delay and to begin an investigation at once when the person is a child or an adult believed to be endangered, and it set the standard for how quickly Minnesota agencies act.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

• Missing children from Minnesota, NCMECNCMEC case search for children missing from Minnesota
• NCMEC missing child searchNational search of missing child posters
• Minnesota Clearinghouse for Missing PersonsMissing Children Information
• Minnesota Amber Alert ProgramMinnesota Crime Alert Network
• Minnesota Crime Alert Network Active Alerts
• What To Do If Your Child Is MissingMissing Children Assistance
• Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task ForceInternet Safety
• Minnesota Predatory Offender Search
• Child Abduction PreventionDepartment of Justice

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension activates an AMBER Alert at the request of the investigating agency when a child under 18 has been abducted, is believed to be in danger of serious harm or death, and there is enough descriptive information about the child, the abductor or a vehicle to broadcast. The alert reaches radio and television through the Emergency Alert System, phones through the wireless emergency alert system, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation highway signs, and the Minnesota Crime Alert Network sends it to subscribing businesses and agencies. Minnesota's plan was one of the earliest in the country, and the state's own history with the Jacob Wetterling case shaped it.

• Minnesota Bureau of Criminal ApprehensionAMBER Alert activations and the Minnesota Missing and Unidentified Persons Clearinghouse

The Minnesota Missing and Unidentified Persons Clearinghouse in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension keeps the statewide file of missing children and adults and of unidentified remains, posts case listings online, coordinates with the National Center and NamUs, and helps local agencies with long term cases. The city police or the county sheriff, whichever covers the place the child was last seen, is the first stop. Ask for the case number and for confirmation that the child is in the National Crime Information Center, and then contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Minneapolis and St. Paul police have their own missing persons investigators.

• Minnesota Police DepartmentsCity police departments that take missing child reports
• Minnesota County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices for all 87 counties
• Minnesota Most WantedFugitives and outstanding warrants

Minnesota uses the Crime Alert Network and a missing endangered person alert for children and adults whose cases do not meet the AMBER criteria, and a Silver Alert for seniors with cognitive impairment. The Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives inside the Department of Public Safety, created in 2021, works on cases involving Native people, who are reported missing at higher rates than the state average, and a companion office for missing and murdered Black women and girls followed. The investigating agency keeps the case file. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, the basic report is public while active investigative data can be withheld, and juvenile data is protected. In Minnesota, a case that stays open can be added to NamUs, the national missing and unidentified persons database, when the investigating agency enters it, and the public can search the entries the agency chooses to publish.

• NamUsNational database of missing and unidentified persons
• Minnesota Criminal RecordsCriminal history and court records in Minnesota

• National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenMissing child posters, reports and the CyberTipline
• AMBER Alert, U.S. Department of JusticeHow AMBER Alerts work and who issues them
• NISMART, national studies of missing childrenDepartment of Justice research on missing children