By CJ Nash

One of the most important things to remember when you receive missing person or lost children calls for service is that you must abandon any preconceived notion that your agency, even as the primary jurisdiction, is the only agency necessary to handle the call.

It takes a village to find a child, or any missing person. So it is crucial to a successful outcome that every public safety agency that overlaps, is concurrent with, across from, or adjacent to the location or potential locations, is notified. Information sharing is a must.

The primary agency, if it is a large city or urban department, will certainly have the numbers to flood an area with officers—and that’s a very good thing. But don’t let a key fact get lost or disregarded. Sometimes the smaller agencies have more detailed knowledge of a specific location within their jurisdiction, and possibly, more familiarity with the best or most likely places to look.  No matter how small an agency is or how small its location, provide the search and lookout information to every agency with even a single footprint in your location perimeter.

Additionally, if part or all of your search area is wooded and your agency doesn’t have motorcycles or mounted officers, ensure you contact the agency that does have jurisdiction over those woods. Even if the woods are within your jurisdiction but you don’t have motors and/or mounted units, contact a nearby agency that does have those resources.

In my experience as the radio operator, or at any supervisory level, during these calls officers’ knowledge of an area is as important as officers flooding an area. Knowledge, familiarity and experience is a force-multiplier in all calls, and it is particularly essential here. It can be the difference between a negative outcome and a fully successful one.

Knowledge saves time. And with missing or lost persons of any age, time is the critical factor.