Sunday July 30 marks the start of National Missing Persons Week. It is an annual campaign to raise awareness of the issues and impacts surrounding missing persons.

Central Hunter crime manager Detective Inspector George Radmore said the week was about reigniting current investigations, but also encouraging those who are listed as missing to come forward.

Inspector Radmore urged people with any information that could help find a missing loved one to get in touch with police.

This year’s campaign, which runs until Saturday August 5, aims to raise awareness around the high number of ‘youth’ who are reported missing to police each year.

In the Hunter area alone two young men, Dylan Dickie and Zac Barnes, are listed as missing people. 

The theme of ‘youth’ was selected after Australian Federal Police research found three out of five missing persons reports related to a young person under the age of 18. Those in the age bracket of 13 to 17 years accounted for 19,000 of the 38,000 or 50 per cent of all missing persons reports recorded by police each year.

​Meet the people missing in NSW in the photo gallery above. Read their stories, memorise their faces and if you have any information about a missing person contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

You can view profiles of missing persons on the national register at missingpersons.gov.au.

It is common for people think they need to wait 24 hours, 48 hours, or longer before they can make a missing persons report to police, but this is not true.

In Australia, a missing person is defined as anyone whose whereabouts are unknown and there are immediate concerns for their safety and welfare.