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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Good outcome search

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: "Marie Lester" <marie.lester@gmail.com>
  • To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Good outcome search
  • Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 08:45:58 -0400

All good and thought provoking "What Ifs", Una.

We had a sudden call out Monday night, as a 36 yr old mentally challenged woman was missing since Sat. night.   We were told that she recently lost her  job (which gave us a hint as to her cognitive/social skills) and had a disagreement with her step mother.  Though she often hid in one of the outbuildings when she was angry or upset, those had been scoured thoroughly.

Ultimately, we scoured nearby wooded areas and must have unknowingly flushed her out.  She was found 2.5 hrs later in one of the outbuildings by the SWAT team and was dehydrated and wet.  (Recent storms)

What ifs were many:
  • What if she walked the rode to the nearby small town, and someone picked her up?
  • What if she became disoriented from dehydration, though she often walked the woods.
  • What if she was trying to hide from us?  (She was!)
  • What if there was more to the argument with family?
I read a book about what people might do, given their particular situations.
The book includes quite a bit of statistics, as well.  I found the psychological element to be particularly interesting.

ANALYSIS OF LOST PERSON BEHAVIOR,
William G.Syrotuck and Jean Anne Syrotuck

Marie Lester
Central Ohio Mounted Search Unit

On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 10:38 PM, Una Smith <una.smith@att.net> wrote:
Lois Guyon wrote:
>Today the LaSalle County (IL) Sheriff's MSAR Posse successfully completed a
>two day search at Starved Rock State Park in the Northwest region of
>Illinois.

Good on you all for sticking with it!

Something I didn't really understand prior to training as a planning
section chief, is the importance of developing "what if"s.  What if the
subject is suicidal?  Then by now the subject is not moving around and
not responsive and you plan your search accordingly ... but only after
working other, urgent what ifs.

What if the subject is a walk-away and the vehicle was left as a false
trail?  That's a case where your efforts are wasted, but on the other
hand the scenario requires no attention by you because the subject and
clues are not there for you to find.

The remaining what ifs are a mixture of subject moving around and not;
of subject able to respond and not...  Tactics then would be a mixture
of containment, hasty searches, attraction, etc., with the mix being
adjusted over time as the likelihood of the subject moving around much
grows smaller.

Lois, did your unit stay at base overnight, stay somewhere local, or
go home?  Did some go home and fresh resources replace them the next
day?  How did it work for you?

       Una Smith
       New Mexico
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