Vans across the UK will feature missing children posters

The Taking Kid Safety to the Street campaign aims to increase awareness of the problem and enlist the public's help in locating missing children.

The posters, of missing children featured on the police-run Missing Kids website, will be displayed on 500 vans of facilities management firm Emcor.

The campaign will also highlight the need for speed in finding children.

Crime problem

Richard Bryan, of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said even the simplest missing child case can be a huge strain on police resources.

A lot of them get drawn into crime or they're victims of crime Richard Bryan Acpo A father's 15-year search

"Kids that go missing are a problem for everyone," he said.

"They are a problem for their families who just desperately want to make contact with them.

"They are a problem in policing terms because a lot of them get drawn into crime or they're victims of crime."

Police forces spend about �1,000 on finding each child who goes missing, he added.

Public help

There are no reliable figures available for the number of children who go missing each year.

The Children's Society, which defines a missing child as someone under 16 who has been absent from home without permission for one night, estimates that 100,000 children run away each year.

Although about 90% of those are found, that still leaves thousands of missing children.

The campaign aims to enlist the public's help in locating missing children and to publicise the Missing Kids website, run by the UK Police National Missing Persons Bureau.

The scheme will be launched on Tuesday with an appeal to the public to help find Sasha McLeish, 15, who has not been seen since she left her Luton home on 23 June.

Hers is the first monthly poster to be used in the van campaign, which is being run in conjunction with the Parents and Abducted Children Together (Pact) charity.