3/12 in our series on police MISPER searches.
In missing person searches every second counts: in cases where there is a high risk of harm, the earlier someone is found, the less likely it is that the risk is realised.
Searches can be complex, though, and push even the most calm and experienced of search professionals to the limits. Planning needs to be thorough if potentially important locations are not to be missed, and resources not wasted.
But as PolSAs, IMPSAs and others who manage searches know only too well, planning and running missing person searches can be time-consuming and error-prone if only manual methods are available. The same is true even when manual methods are supplemented by non-specialist digital tools such as Google Maps.
An advanced tool to help hold back an expanding search area
From place-last-seen, as the clock ticks, the area to be searched expands. Risk and resourcing demands all increase too.
Search-PRAS from Cunning Running provides the integrated, optimised search planning and management solution, offering huge scope to drastically cut time-to-success.
First Search-PRAS works to speed up the initial planning so that resources can be deployed quickly to the right locations. Search-PRAS has comprehensive information on natural and manmade features in the local environment. If it is believed that a missing person may be in woodland or water, for example, Search-PRAS can quickly identify all such areas within the defined search radius. It can even pinpoint easily overlooked features such as wells.
Precise targeting for search teams
More than that, Search-PRAS can rapidly group defined areas into search tasks and generate a comprehensive pack of information that gets search teams to the right places quickly.
Identifying all bridges, or all commercial premises of a certain kind, or all residential addresses within a defined area are other examples. Such refining of the search area is all within the capabilities of Search-PRAS — and such tasks can be achieved in seconds and minutes, not hours.
Act fast, make decisions with confidence
Search-PRAS is designed to automate the laborious tasks that slow down search operations, leaving users free to act quickly, but with confidence that they have made robust, well-informed choices.
What we have described is only a fraction of the power that Search-PRAS puts at the fingertips of PolSAs, IMPSAs and search teams.
In our next article, we’ll explore how Search-PRAS can be used to focus resources on priority locations. And there’s much more to add to the business case for Search-PRAS, all coming in later articles in this series.
See it all for yourself — arrange a remote demo now
If your force is not using Search-PRAS, you’re missing an opportunity to compress critical timelines in missing persons searches.
It’s time to empower your force’s search professionals to use their skills to greatest effect, to make the most efficient use of resources — and to find missing persons in less time and with reduced risk.
Call +44 (0)1794 834750 or email enquiries@cunningrunning.co.uk now for an initial chat and to arrange a Search-PRAS demo via a Teams call with one of our search professionals. Or Make an Appointment
Stay on top of the developing search story…
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Previous articles in this missing persons search series:
Missing persons search in the digital age: ready for your ‘Eureka moment’?
Article 1:
Ensure the excellence of your force’s search capability
Article 2:
Rapidly plan optimised searches in the office, then execute with maximum efficiency in the field
