2/12 in our series on police MISPER searches
When the need for a search operation is triggered, the immediate requirement is to plan where to look. That plan will be based on the unique characteristics of the case, after which the required teams must be tasked and dispatched, progress tracked, and the search operation adapted as events unfold.
What’s needed is the ability to plan with confidence in the office, then work in the field if and when you need to, ensuring optimum connectivity, integration and coordination across the whole search operation, and that available resources are used as efficiently as possible.
And that’s exactly what Search-PRAS from Cunning Running empowers PolSAs, IMPSAs and others planning and managing a search operation to do. It’s a specialist tool designed to provide targeted functionality that enables search operations to be planned, tasked out to units, and progress-managed and tracked — all in one integrated, highly automated solution.
Go where the search goes
Search-PRAS (Search Position Ranking & Analysis System) has been designed with flexibility to operate in the office, but also in the field where the environment may be challenging and reliable network access unavailable. Very often Search-PRAS will be deployed on rugged laptop computers and configured with a full local capability for mapping and visualisation. In other words, Search-PRAS capability can go where the search goes.
In the office, Search-PRAS combines geospatial data with standard reference data sets such as iFind and Grampian to enable users to make rapid, well-informed decisions on the areas to be searched. Users can then generate a set of search tasks, output as a full pack of information that can be passed to search teams who can then execute their part of the plan.
Adapt and replan with speed and ease
Search-PRAS can then receive updates on search progress, maintain an overall picture of the ongoing operation and rapidly adapt and replan as events dictate.
Once the operation is up and running, that same Search-PRAS system can be taken out into the field to get closer to actual operation. There it can enable detailed management of the operation based on situational awareness and understanding of the local area provided by the comprehensive mapping and geo-referenced data sets held on the Search-PRAS system.
By combining the ‘best of the best’ — 2D and 3D mapping, geospatial assets, visualisation, data sets and procedural structure — in one integrated, go-anywhere solution, Search-PRAS can dramatically of reduce search timelines and risk.
Collapsing search timescales: an “hours down to minutes” real-world example
A particularly memorable example of the critical time-saving benefits of the Search-PRAS solution comes from one of our training courses. One attendee, a Specialist Search Advisor, shared an experience of an especially challenging missing person search. An individual was missing in Thetford Forest, the UK’s largest manmade lowland forest, an area of 18,730 hectares (72.3 square miles).
The Search Advisor recounted how it took him over two hours to break the forest into manageable search areas, using a paper map and no additional tools.
We then demonstrated how he could achieve the same task in just two minutes using functionality within Search-PRAS. This included not only defining the search areas — breaking down large, complex areas of forest with firebreaks into manageable search zones — but also generating search task sheets.
The whole process was achieved in a fraction of the time it would take with traditional manual methods (135 minutes reduced down to 2 minutes means that the task was achieved in around 1.5% of the time). Not only that, Search-PRAS also delivered the additional value and time-saving of the generated search task sheets.
Experience Search-PRAS for yourself — arrange a remote demo now
If your force is not using Search-PRAS, you’re missing an opportunity to be as integrated and as coordinated as it’s possible to be.
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…
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
