Utah Missing Children

A missing child in Utah is reported to the city police or the county sheriff, and the Utah Department of Public Safety coordinates the case, issues AMBER Alerts and keeps the Utah Missing Persons Clearinghouse in its Bureau of Criminal Identification. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can post the case on its national site as well, but only after the police enter it in the FBI's database and the family or the agency gives permission. There is no waiting period, and Utah law requires the child to be entered into the FBI's national database at once.

Utah issues an Endangered Missing Advisory as its second tier, so a child whose case does not meet the AMBER standard can still be publicized statewide, and Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front cities have their own detectives for missing children.

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

• NCMEC missing child searchNational search of missing child posters
• Utah Missing Persons ClearinghouseMissing Children and Adults Clearinghouse
• Utah Amber Alert
• What To Do If Your Child Is MissingInformation for Parents
• Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task ForceInternet Safety
• Family AbductionsAbduction Prevention
• Missing Kids in UtahUtah Missing Kids
• Children's rules of safety

Utah county sheriffs

The Utah Department of Public Safety 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 information about the child, the abductor or a vehicle to help the public. The alert reaches radio and television through the Emergency Alert System, phones through the wireless emergency alert system, and the Utah Department of Transportation highway signs on Interstates 15, 80 and 70, and it is shared with the six neighboring states. In Utah, cases that fall short of the abduction standard get the Endangered Missing Advisory, which goes to media and online without the phone alert.

• Utah Department of Public SafetyAMBER Alert and Endangered Missing Advisory activations
• Utah Bureau of Criminal IdentificationThe Utah Missing Persons Clearinghouse

The Utah Missing Persons Clearinghouse in the Bureau of Criminal Identification keeps the statewide file of missing children and adults, posts case listings with photos, coordinates with the National Center and NamUs, and helps local agencies with long term cases. Make the report to the city police or the county sheriff and write down the case number. Confirm the entry into the National Crime Information Center, then call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which can assign a case manager. Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo and Ogden police have their own detectives for missing children, and the Unified Police Department covers much of Salt Lake County.

• Utah Police DepartmentsCity police departments that take missing child reports
• Utah County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices for all 29 counties
• Utah Most WantedFugitives and outstanding warrants

Utah's Silver Alert covers missing seniors and adults with cognitive impairment, the Endangered Missing Advisory covers other vulnerable adults, and the Blue Alert covers suspects who have injured or killed a law enforcement officer. The state's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force, created in 2020, works on cases involving Native people. The case file belongs to the investigating agency. Under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act, the initial contact report is public while investigative records can be withheld while a case is open, and juvenile records are private. Across Utah, for a case that stays open, the investigating agency can enter it in NamUs, the national missing persons database, where entries are reviewed and published with the agency's approval and can then be searched by anyone.

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

• 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