Training in Visual Search for SAR

I recently started to read Mark Gleason’s paper – THE SEARCH FOR HUMAN REMAINS IN THE SEARCH AND RESCUE ENVIRONMENT. I’d downloaded it a while back and skimmed it, but hadn’t sat and thought about it much. I got as far as the first page before I got very distracted by something he wrote about “search images”;

Most experienced searchers possess mental images of what to look for with respect to a missing person based upon cumulative experience in the field. That degree of field experience lessens as the search mission moves along the continuum from live subject to dead subject, from dead subject to decomposing subject, and from decomposing subject to non-intact human remains or clandestine graves.

So we must ask ourselves whether or not the searchers we dispatch into the field have a realistic image of what they are tasked to look for?

Gleason references Stoffel, who wrote some interesting words on vision and perception, which can be found at http://www.eri-online.com/uploads/TheBriefing-PODConnection.pdf

But I had to learn a bit more; deeper reading into the subject led me to the global-focal model which suggests the way vision is processed works in a predictable manner – global impression, discovery search, reflective search and post-search recall. More reading suggested that accuracy in visual search can be improved with specific training and this would reflect the results of the sweep width reports and the higher sweep widths of park rangers and trackers – who are used to the search environment.

Lots of tracking texts I have read start with training the eye to “see” things in the outdoors etc. Maybe this should be studied more in SAR, and become part of search training – a bit like the old “clue” field exercise that used to be done before its meaning got lost and became just a find everything practical.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more on this sometime…

November 4, 2009 · Robert Bradley · No Comments
Tags: Global-focal Model, Lowland Search, SAR, Search Images, Search Techniques, Search Training, Sweep Width, Tracking, Visual Search · Posted in: Search Research, Search Thoughts, Search Training

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This month's feature is the Missing Rights Campaign being run by Missing People.

If your house is burgled you are automatically offered emotional, practical and legal support. If your child goes missing you may get nothing.

Missing People. are calling on the Government to give families of missing people the same basic rights as victims of crime.

Over 250,000 people go missing in the UK every year. While most of us will have read or heard about a disappearance, little is understood about the emotional, legal and financial burdens it can bring to those closest to the missing person. Families left behind face their homes being seized, jobs being lost, divorce, social stigma and suicidal thoughts.

Here are the detailed aims and objectives of the Missing Rights Campaign. Without your support, though, they will not be able to bring about change for families of missing people.

Aim #1:
Families of missing people should know everything possible is being done to find their missing loved one.

Objectives:
•Every region to have a local missing persons coordinator who will hold local services to account
•Every family to have a named single point of contact in the police force dealing with their missing loved one
•All unidentified bodies to be cross matched with missing person reports

Aim #2:
Families affected by a disappearance should have access to support.

Objectives:
•Every family of a missing person to be signposted to Missing People’s free emotional, practical and legal support services by the police
•A network of specially trained counsellors to be developed to support the unique needs of families of missing people

Aim #3:
Families left behind should be spared the pain of unnecessary financial and legal bureaucracy.

Objectives:
•All banks to introduce standard mortgage arrangements for families of missing people
•All insurance companies to enable families to freeze or take over their missing relative’s policy payments.
•Presumption of Death Act to be introduced in England of Wales

Robert Bradley's Re-Search Website

The bloke that knows sh!t loads of dead cool stuff about search…

Training in Visual Search for SAR

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