Missing Child Responses

[SageVigiles 1,194]

After reading the Peeksill IA for the missing child I got to wondering, who gets called in your jurisdiction for a search for missing children?

What is the responsibility of your agency (Fire/Police/EMS?) in these incidents? What outside resources do you use?

In Danbury it is a coordinated effort between the Fire Department, Danbury Hospital EMS and the Police Department.

State Police is used for Aviation support and K9 teams.

My Police Explorer post is used for assisting in searching large areas as well as the local Civil Air Patrol Wing's Cadets.

CAP cheats though, they get to use planes... (Obviously joking, all's fair when its a missing kid, but a little interagency rivalry never hurt anyone as long as you can still work WELL together.)

Seriously though, what do you do in your town?

[BFD1054 1,552]

Sage,

I listened to this incident from the on-set. Sounded like it could have had a much worse outcome, but thankfully the child was located rather quickly. May have been a mis-understanding between babysitter and parent(s), but i am not sure.

I was quite impressed with the initial response by PPD and the way things were handled. I thought the Lt's decision to broadcast the childs info over the DPW radio was a good call. Peekskill DPW is quite large and would provide numerous set's of eyes throughout the area to assist in the search. A K9 was requested and called very early in the incident, but was luckily not needed.

Good job by PPD and glad to hear it had a good out-turn.

Edited April 20, 2010 by BFD1054

[Remember585 815]

All too often I hear missing person / child calls and wonder how long the PD agency involved waits before calling for help. Some PD's are quick to pull the trigger for assistance, others seem like they wait too long, or don't know what resources are available to them.

For us, if we are called to assist in a missing person search, we send Two Engine Companies and the Rescue. This should provide sufficient manpower, two TICs, a Command Post, lighting and enough high visibility vests for our personnel so we can keep an eye on them.

[helicopper 1,050]

Very interesting and timely topic!

There are many variables that have to be considered by law enforcement regarding searches for missing persons. For example, the age, physical and mental condition of the mission, circumstances of their disappearance (child or elderly wandered away, suspicious circumstances, etc.), time since they were seen last, weather conditions, time of day, clothing worn by the subject, has this ever happened before, etc. etc. etc.

high visibility vests for our personnel so we can keep an eye on them.

How do you manage the resources and maintain accountability of fire personnel in this situation. I can think of at least one incident where I was asked to respond not to search for a missing person but to search for missing/lost rescuers.

What training, if any, do fire departments provide their members for this activity? Just out of curiosity, why should first-line fire apparatus be taken out of service for a missing person search?

Besides the PD/FD, there are also civilian Search and Rescue organizations in our area, the Civil Air Patrol was already mentioned (though they probably won't use planes for this search unless there is a specific reason too), and of course you've got K-9 assets (a variety of types), aviation, ATV's, thermal imagers, etc.

OK, now in keeping with the scenario based discussions -

You're doing a search for a missing 6 year old and there are several bodies of water in the area - do you call for divers/boats right away?

Let's add to the complexity of the incident and say that a K-9 tracks right to the shore of a lake and the track is lost. Now what?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

You're doing a search for a missing 6 year old and there are several bodies of water in the area - do you call for divers/boats right away?

Funny you should ask. A few years back in New Fairfield we did just that. We have no dive team, but we put a few marine units in the water with UW cameras and water rescue trained members.

[Bnechis 3,961]

We have a specialty unit thats searches for children.

The training tape we use to teach responders about the capabilities of this unit can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmbklTNDU2E&feature=related

[wraftery 1,275]

We have a specialty unit thats searches for children.

The training tape we use to teach responders about the capabilities of this unit can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmbklTNDU2E&feature=related

Barry

I have seen this kind of thing before.

You are showing symptoms of being in admin on straight days too long. Tell Doc to give you a company before it's too late.

[helicopper 1,050]

And on the subject of thermal imaging cameras, what training does anyone have in identifying a human target with them? They're great and used frequently for finding fires but has anyone actually gone out and practiced with one to find a person? There are many variables that can make it difficult to discern a human under the best of circumstances and when do we ever get to operate with them?

[wraftery 1,275]

And on the subject of thermal imaging cameras, what training does anyone have in identifying a human target with them? They're great and used frequently for finding fires but has anyone actually gone out and practiced with one to find a person? There are many variables that can make it difficult to discern a human under the best of circumstances and when do we ever get to operate with them?

I recall finding a lost alzheimers patient asleep in tall (4') grass using a TIC. Done on ground TIC scanning from a high point. Kind of a no brainer...see a heat signature, go look. We were not doing a large area like a helo with FLIR but it worked.

By the way, we were called to assist PD with PD as lead agency. Urban search meant stores, busses, trains, etc.

With many search teams, map sheets for each team should be handed out and progress recorded at CP's master map

[Oswegowind 17]

How do you manage the resources and maintain accountability of fire personnel in this situation. I can think of at least one incident where I was asked to respond not to search for a missing person but to search for missing/lost rescuers.

What training, if any, do fire departments provide their members for this activity? Just out of curiosity, why should first-line fire apparatus be taken out of service for a missing person search?

Besides the PD/FD, there are also civilian Search and Rescue organizations in our area, the Civil Air Patrol was already mentioned (though they probably won't use planes for this search unless there is a specific reason too), and of course you've got K-9 assets (a variety of types), aviation, ATV's, thermal imagers, etc.

OK, now in keeping with the scenario based discussions -

You're doing a search for a missing 6 year old and there are several bodies of water in the area - do you call for divers/boats right away?

Let's add to the complexity of the incident and say that a K-9 tracks right to the shore of a lake and the track is lost. Now what?

Interesting scenario.

1st off, I am sure we have a procedure for this, I don't recall seeing it since training when I started 5 years ago though. The calltaker is supposed to prioritize a missing person who is either under the age of 12, or has a mental incapacity of some sort; such as alzheimer's disease or autism. For situations like this we are supposed to send the initial car and a supervisor to the "scene" of where the person is missing from. We also alert the communications supervisor (or are supposed to) and the street lieutenant. Hoping that the calltaker did their due diligence when receiving the call, we transmit a description immediately and send additional cars to canvass for the missing. I have never dispatched the fire department to assist, but this is considering the jurisdiction I am employed in has a significant amount of patrols working. I personally make immediate calls to our ambulance service as they are an "on the street" unit and may come across the missing during their shift, our bus/mass transit service; Liberty Lines whom operates the BeeLine Bus System in southern Westchester (this has yielded results for me twice in the past 2 years!), and call our local emergency rooms because a "good Samaritan" may have picked up the missing and dropped them off at the hospital because maybe they were confused or looked as though they needed medical attention. The car should get photos of the missing for distribution to canvassing units and a copy should be brought to our Youth division which handles all missing person cases. YD provides a flier using picture and description which gets distributed more thoroughly a short time after the incident has originated.

In the case of the "bodies of water" issue, I know that we have utilized the Mt. Pleasant dive team in the past to recover a missing female from the Hudson River. I would recommend them in the future as well. If a K9 is used and tracks to the body of water, then it is imperative to call in experts that are trained in searching in the water. It would not be the first time that a person went missing and ended up in a body of water. Usually these cases end tragically, and considerations should be in place to handle that scenario. It is also important to consider a pool to be a body of water. Small children have been recovered in swimming pools after going missing in the past. While canvassing, some personnel should be deployed on foot to thoroughly canvass the immediate area and be sure to check even covered swimming pools which are even more dangerous than open ones.

As well, if a small child is missing from "home", someone should consult the parents as to where the child likes to hide, I can't count the number of times children are found inside of their home, hiding, thinking it is a game.

As for the persons of deteriorating mental capacity or those with illnesses such as autism, the County of Westchester participates in the "Project Lifesaver" program. If you have anyone in your family or even a neighbor, or a repeatedly missing person that suffers from one of those conditions, you should recommend this program. You can view the following links for more information:

Project Lifesaver homepage

Westchester County Page