Since Tuesday 8th January (See website news report dated the same) experienced team call out list members Steve Fletcher and Chris Greenhalgh have been attending each following day, the intensive Lancashire Constabulary Missing Person Search Manager Course.
Consisting of both theory and practical exercises, the course completed today with
Steve, Chris and all the Police Officers on the course being put through a day long intensive ‘missing persons’ search exercise in the Fleetwood area of Lancashire.
Commencing at Fleetwood Police Station at 10.00hrs this morning, all the course ‘Trainee’ Missing Person Search Managers were presented with the ‘missing persons’ scenario and then moved on in the early afternoon to the Dementia Rehabilitation Unit at Rossall, Fleetwood, where the practical search exercises were being held, including the surrounding area.
Attending to give all the ‘Trainee Search Managers’ on the course ‘real time’ experience of dealing with the many agencies who would be involved in an actual search operation were seventeen members of Bowland Pennine MRT, eighteen members of Bolton MRT, four members of Rossendale and Pendle MRT, Lancashire Constabulary Officers and fifteen Coastguard SAR members from the Marine Coastguard Agency.
The eighteen members present from our team as searchers included seven of our Probationary team members, one trainee Team Call Out list member and ten Full team Call Out list members.
We also attended with three of our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles and our Minibus Ambulance.
Both Bolton MRT and Bowland Pennine MRT also supplied experienced Mountain Rescue Search Managers to act as ‘Advisors’ to the Trainee Search Managers, in our case this was very experienced and long serving team call out list member Mike Marsh.
The exercises completed successfully with all the ‘missing persons’ located, and rather uniquely some MRT members being involved in searching buildings, to give them an appreciation and understanding of what Police Officers do when they routinely carry out such searches.
Most of the MRT searchers were deployed in to the surrounding open land areas around the DRU at Rossall including coastal and beach searching alongside the Coastguard SAR team members present from the MCA.
All present not only benefitted from the bracing sea air, it was also dry and sunny!
This exercise not only served to give all the ‘Trainee’ Missing Person Search Managers (Who incidentally, with our full congratulations all ‘passed’ with flying colours) practical experience of co-ordinating search parties from different agencies, but it also served the very useful purpose of allowing all present to gain a better understanding of joint and multi agency search working.
The newly qualified Police & MRT “Missing From Home” Search Managers, pictured at the end of today’s exercise
The Bolton MRT wishes to pass on its thanks to those Lancashire Constabulary Officers involved in organising todays exercise, and in particular Inspector Neil Sherry.
