8/12 in our series on police MISPER searches
Frequently in missing person searches, PolSAs and IMPSAs are expected to achieve more with less. But how is that possible? Experience tells us that the sharpest possible focus on the search areas most likely to yield a result is key… before the search area widens and before time starts to slip away.
In this latest article in our MISPER series, we explain how this can be achieved.
The need for critical limiters
As the clock ticks, and a missing person remains un-found, the potential areas they could have reached from their Place Last Seen grow. Quickly searching within the right area, while focusing on the most likely locations, is critical. This will limit the potential of a missing person coming to harm, as well as limiting the amount of resource needed to complete the operation.
However, keeping time on your side is extremely difficult. Indeed, it can be almost impossible when using conventional manual methods and non-integrated maps and data sources to plan and coordinate missing person searches.
By contrast, using the Search-PRAS integrated software solution from Cunning Running can effectively buy time for the search team.
Buying time by all means possible
The Search-PRAS software is designed to cut the time taken for the critical steps, while also providing objective assessment in support of the critical decisions.
Here are just some of the ways in which Search-PRAS saves significant time in missing person searches:
- Range rings are quickly and easily created based on empirical databases such as iFind.
- More specific analysis is available through travel time assessments.
- Environmental features such as woodland, water, wells, bridges, cemeteries and parks can be quickly identified and used as the basis for search task definitions.
- Comprehensive search tasking information is quickly prepared and ready for distribution to search teams.
Therefore, what might take hours using manual methods can now be achieved in minutes.
Desk-based focus, speed and efficiency
With Search-PRAS, PolSAs and IMPSAs are able to set up search operations rapidly without leaving their desks, whilst being confident that they have a good feel for the territory involved.
All of which means that they can be both more effective and more productive.
Ask any search professional who has had to rely on largely manual and non-integrated methods for planning, managing, briefing and controlling missing person searches. They will tell you that time lost in the first few hours of the search operation can be critical to the outcome.
More than that, the consequences of time lost in the earliest stages of planning and searching multiply greatly in the later stages of the search, as the search area widens, and as risk and resource requirements increase in direct proportion.
See Search-PRAS in action
Focus and speed are everything in the planning and execution of missing person searches. And that’s precisely what the Search-PRAS solution delivers—upfront, and then at every juncture in the search operation.
We would be delighted to arrange a remote demo so you can see this sharper focus and experience the critical time-savings for yourself. Call +44 (0)1794 834750 or email enquiries@cunningrunning.co.uk or connect with us on LinkedIn (see below).
Stay on top of the developing search story…
The above article is one of an extended series of articles on search challenges and issues for police forces.
To receive notification when each article goes live, please follow the Cunning Running company page on LinkedIn, or the LinkedIn pages of Stephen Mallon or Phil Cowell.
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
Article 3:
Compress critical timelines in missing person search operations
Article 4:
Focus use of resources on priority locations in missing person search operations
Article 5:
Audit of decision rationale in missing person searches—why it’s critical for all stakeholders
Article 6:
Leverage and enhance your use of existing geospatial assets in missing person searches
Article 7:
Stay on top of evolving missing person searches—and replan quickly
