Thousands of vulnerable people go missing in West Yorkshire each year.

But the number who disappear has been dramatically reduced after a police initiative.

The number reported missing fell by 26 per cent last year from 8,024 in 2004 to 5,962. The figure was cut by 40 per cent in Bradford North from 967 to 580 and by 29 per cent in Keighley division, from 461 to 326.

Missing persons reports rose by 25 per cent, from 416 to 518, in Bradford South, partly due to the inclusion of school truants.

The force has appointed a Missing Person Co-ordinator, Inspector Alan Rhees-Cooper, above, and a co-ordinator for each division. They work with local authorities, mental health trusts and organisations like Barnardo's, Children in Vulnerable Accommodation and Conne-xions, which helps children back into education.

On Tuesday, the force is hosting a major conference in Bradford aimed at agencies working to meet the needs of those who go missing and their families.

Insp Rhees-Cooper said the vast majority of missing people were between 13 and 15 more girls than boys.

He said: "We look at what pushes them away which could be problems with their parents, domestic violence or abuse, poverty, or bullying at school and what pulls them away, which could be friends who might have a flat where alcohol and cannabis may be available."

Police have also done a lot of work on those who "harbour" missing people those who irresponsibly allow young people to stay at their homes and those with more sinister motives like grooming or sexual exploitation.

Insp Rhees-Cooper said: "We send warning letters, explaining they are committing an offence, to the unintentional harbourers but take a more aggressive approach to those with sinister motives by going straight to a final warning visit."

In the last year, 168 warning letters have been issued force-wide, 46 of them in Bradford, and there were 25 final warning visits, of which three were in Bradford.

In the Bradford district, two people have been arrested for harbouring; one has been convicted.

Twenty people have gone missing at least three times in six months in the Bradford district and five have been missing nine times or more. In the worst case, one person went missing 54 times in six months.

There are currently 14 missing persons in the district whose cases are reviewed daily. That does not include people who may not have been seen for many years.

Insp Rhees-Cooper said there had been an initiative in Bradford to work more closely with other agencies like the local authority and meetings were held when a young person was identified as going missing regularly.

Work is underway to introduce a new computer system to record missing person investigations. Insp Rhees-Cooper said: "This will lead to greater efficiency and enable us to locate individuals far sooner before they come to harm."

e-mail: steve.wright@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

CASE HISTORY: MALCOLM BERRY

Hairdresser Malcolm Berry, above, has probably been missing longer than anyone in the Bradford district but his case is still being investigated 15 years after he disappeared.

Mr Berry, then 56, closed his barber's shop in Drill Street, Keighley, on August 10, 1991, for a holiday in Spain.

He left a note on the door to say the shop would reopen on August 27 and simply vanished off the face of the earth.

The bachelor, who lived alone above his shop, was a bullfighting fanatic but it is not known whether he ever reached his intended destination, the Costa del Sol, or even boarded a plane.

He has not been seen or heard of since, despite extensive inquiries here and in Spain, including a search by an English-language newspaper in Malaga.

The ukulele-playing barber, described as eccentric, left behind a string of town centre properties and more than £150,000 in his bank account, which stayed untouched.

His shop remained unused and boarded-up for years before being converted into a residential property.

The police chief who headed the inquiry during the 90s said he had not known anyone to be missing for so long in 30 years of policing.

Mr Berry is now officially certified dead, but his missing person file remains open.

Keighley missing persons co-ordinator PC Martin Preston said: "We still review the case on an annual basis and can do document checks, like whether his passport has been renewed. If new information came to light it would be acted on immediately."