Madeleine McCann investigation 'cost £10 million to date'

Quoting again because you edited your post.

1) I didn't bring subsidies into anything, so I'm lost there.

2) I don't have an "argument" to be weak on. You said " If they spent £10MM on this case, they should spend it on all other similar cases. The fact is they don't" and I asked for evidence of that FACT. That's all. (You haven't provided it btw)

Do they? For more than a couple of days? Over the last 10 years, how many young children have gone missing and remained missing, long-term?

Another case of undue moral outrage. Where is the evidence that children go missing all the time and that the money is not spent on them by the authorities??

Obviously very few cases cost £10 million, how can you even imagine that's the case?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cost-madeleine-mccann-investigation-spirals-6365140

Average cost is 2.5k for missing children. £10 million is ridiculous overkill. I rest my case.

I didn't say the authorities didn't spend money on them. How many other cases have they spent £10million on?

You aren't comparing like with like. Most missing children are quickly found, or a satisfactory explanation for their disappearance (such as a parent taking them abroad to evade the other parent) discovered.

How many other kids got ignored because so much money was spent on this case? She's not the only child to go missing.

Even if it were hopeless, giving up would communicate to abductors that Britain won't pursue you if it takes too much time or money. That's not what we should be saying - we should say that if you abduct one of our citizens, we'll chase you to the ends of the earth.

Lol not another one

Why don't you tell us?! How many other missing children got ignored because so much money was spent on this case?

Is there just one missing persons unit in the UK, and everyone has been busy with the McCann's for the last 12 years? So when somebody calls to report a missing child, it just goes to answerphone? Sorry, we'll get back to you once we've found Maddy.

Is 12 years a reasonable time to leave a case open when the girl is most likely never going to be found? No. Generally after 72 hours, a missing person is dead if not found.

This is way more than 72 hours.

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http://missingkids.co.uk/

In the UK, a child is reported missing every 3 minutes. You do realise funds aren't unlimited and for them to have spent £10mil on MM, it means money wasn't spent elsewhere? Why do we not spend £10mil on every child that goes missing? Would be interesting to hear what the second highest spend is on another missing child.

No way do they give up on a child after 72 hours. You are thinking of adults in non-suspicious circumstances,

I believe she's dead

It would be interesting to hear what the average spend is per year for long-term missing children. And we'd have to account for other details like whether the investigation takes place primarily in a foreign country, etc.

But in the absence of this information, what do people do? Try to look it up? Admit that they lack any information on the subject? Of course not; we wail about how unfair everything is and we make things up! Kids go missing every day! The police ignore them! The money spent is disproportionate! etc.

By the way, I'm not trying to personally attack you here, if you read the thread you'll see that this is a super common reaction to this subject. For some reason, it evokes a LOT of negative emotion in people, and nobody ever backs any of it up with facts.

You're avoiding the point. 12 years is not reasonable.

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That's a fact is it?

Can we see the evidence of that fact, please?

I'm sure it's nowhere near £10mil (+£2mil already budgeted for the future). Why should we be spending more because it is foreign? If anything, it would be the local police who investigate. But they've obviously long given up because there are no leads.

It's a common theme because that's how most people feel. While there may not be written sources, they are assumptions based on common sense.

Madeleine McCann disappeared in May 2007 (she's listed on missingkids.co.uk). Since then, there are another 112 children who are listed as still missing (I'm sure there have been others who have been found). How many others get the same level of publicity, support or funds as Madeleine McCann? What is so different about Madeleine McCann compared to the other 112 children who went missing after her? Why have they not each had £10mil spent on them?

Literally the most rudimentary research shows it to be highly unlikely that a case like hers should cost so much.

Portsmouth University released a report in 2012. In it, it said that the average cost for a missing persons case lies between £1325 and £2415. Let us take the mid-point of that figure (without delving further, I'm not sure why a mathematical average would have such a spread, but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation) which is £1870.
James Brokenshire, while US for Crime & Security, released a report that stated that 68% of cases are over in a day, 75% within two, 90% within 5, and 99% within one year. A weighted average, taking into account the cumulative nature of those figures, suggests the mean average is 17.21 days. Note this is a mean average so gives no colour to show that most are dealt with very quickly indeed; note also that I haven't measured the 99-100 bit, as I'm sure there are cases going over hundreds of years that just aren't useful to be used in this statistic.

So the average cost is £1870 and the average length is 17.21. Per day, I believe this gives us a figure of £109. I think Madeleine's been missing for 3057 days, giving us a rough estimate of what it should, using historical averages, have cost. The figure is somewhere around £330,000. I fully appreciate this doesn't give colour to the international aspect of this case, but how long can a case go on for before it's wound down? I suggest far before it hits the £10,000,000 mark.

If they spent £10MM on this case, they should spend it on all other similar cases.

I'm just looking for some hard evidence that the amount spent on the McCann case was disproportionate or unreasonable, since that's what everybody is up in arms about.

The only reason the cost of the McCann case would have any relevance in relation to how much is spent on other cases is if, like you said before, the McCann case actually TOOK resources from other investigations, thus hindering them. And that is a big accusation. If you have any evidence for that, I'll respect your anger.

Btw, the vast majority of missing children on the website you linked me to are teenagers, who I'm presuming have less resources spent on them because they are likely runaways rather than abductions.If you can show evidence of a case of a young child that was suspected of being abducted, but didn't have a proportionate or reasonable amount of time and money spent on their search, I will join you in your outrage.