Search & Rescue Coordination

Policing Australia: The Official Podcast of the Australian Police Journal

How and why do police coordinate Search and Rescue (SAR) operations for missing or lost people? What processes are involved in deciding when to call the searches off? Can police predict the behaviour of lost people? Join host Jason Byrnes as he learns about police involvement in SAR, by talking with Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Jim Whitehead. Snr Sgt Whitehead is a highly experienced SAR coordinator, having been involved in SAR duties for over 30 years. Several case studies are discussed, including the 2011 search for the remains of missing boy Daniel Morecombe, the 2017 search for six missing divers on the submerged vessel FV Diana, the 2018 search and rescue of a South Korean bushwalker who was stuck at a waterfall near Tully, and locating the body of a man who fell off a lilo in Lake Eacham in 2014. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the Australian Police Journal, Australia’s premier true crime and policing publication, at www.apjl.com.au

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guest: Jim Whitehead
APJ articles cited:
Lost Persons: Sometimes we don’t find them, by Jim Whitehead, September 2015 issue of the APJ
Search and Rescue: The Suicide Factor, by Jim Whitehead, June 2016 issue of the APJ
Book cited:
Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal: An Extraordinary History by Jason Byrnes, Big Sky Publishing, 2017
Music
Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle