Swedish police help search for little girl’s missing teddy bear

When little Tyra Blomqvist's teddy bear went missing last Tuesday, her mother, Kristin Blomqvist, posted "missing teddy bear" posters around the Stockholm island of Kungsholmen.

The posters included a photo of the beloved toy and read: "Have you seen my teddy bear? I dropped it somewhere on Hantverksgatan on June 19th."

"The teddy bear really means a lot to her. She can't sleep properly at night without it and she searches for it when she wakes in the morning," Kristin told the Nyheter24 news website.

A local police officer noticed one of the posters and uploaded a photo of it to the official district police Facebook page.

"Through 'liking' this picture, spreading the link and keeping our eyes open, we can together make it so Tyra gets her beloved teddy bear back," the officer wrote when sharing the photo.

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"Be sure to leave the bear at the nearest police station so Tyra can see her friend again!"

While the image collected 1,200 "likes" and was shared almost 400 times, the stuffed bear didn't turn up.

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This Wednesday, the police presented little Tyra with a consolation gift: a new police-mascot teddy bear.

"The police arrived with a new teddy bear, it was a real surprise!" Tyra's mother told The Local.

The police usually give their mascot bears to children who have suffered trauma or to children deserving of a memento.

Blomqvist says her daughter "really likes the new bear."

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The police responded on Facebook to criticism that searching for a lost teddy bear reflected poor policing priorities:

"The article above was written by an off-duty policeman, so the cost to us was zero. If we, through two minutes' work, can help her get her friend back, we'd say it's good prioritizing, don't you think?" an inspector wrote.