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Dedicated volunteers who help search for the missing
Discovering that a loved one has gone missing is one of the worst things that many of us can imagine. Fortunately here in Peterborough, we have the services of a specialist team to help out in those stressful situations.
Discovering that a loved one has gone missing is one of the worst things that many of us can imagine. Fortunately here in Peterborough, we have the services of a specialist team to help out in those stressful situations.Features writer Hannah Gray finds out more.
IF your friend or relative goes missing, you want to know the process of searching for them will be conducted by people with the very best skills and experience.
In Cambridgeshire, this is CamSAR, a group of 26 search technicians with the specialist training to do their best to find your loved one.
What it may surprise you to learn is that these experts are not a paid branch of any of the other emergency services, but a band of dedicated volunteers.
CamSAR officially came into being on August 1, 2006, after search controller Paul Arnill moved to the area.
Paul had been a founding committee member for Essex Search and Rescue, and when he moved to Cambridgeshire three years ago, Cambridgeshire Police approached him about setting up a similar organisation here.
Paul is technically a househusband, but says that running CamSAR is "like having a full time job" as well.
Since it was officially founded, Paul has recruited and trained up the volunteers to form the team he has today.
Those volunteers come from a whole range of backgrounds, from those out of work to accountants to police officers.
Technicians go on an initial two day course to be able to search, but training is very much ongoing. They meet once a fortnight on a Wednesday and once a month on Sundays. At these sessions they continue to practise their search techniques.
An average of 4,000 people a year are reported missing in Cambridgeshire. Of these, 95 per cent turn up safe and well. The remaining five per cent of cases are when CamSAR is called in, after police have done their initial investigations.
Team members have to be prepared, where possible, to mobilise at short notice when the call comes in.
Paul said: "We get a call from the police to help in a missing person search and a call out goes to the team using a system called SMS response. There are those that can drop everything and run and there are those that can't make it initially but once they've finished work or whatever they have to do, will make it at a later point.
"We get an initial team out straight away and others come along later to help or take over."
Paul believes that the team's dedicated training means that they bring a wealth of expertise to a search.
"If you take a line of say 30 people, and they're doing a search through a field, the way that we're trained, you can take 90 per cent of those people out and we could put a team of six people in and they could do the same job that 30 did," he said.
"The police would have to put out loads and loads of police officers to get the same effect that we get for fewer people because we're trained to do it. We're a lot more efficient at what we do so the police don't have to throw too many resources into it."
Searching can be hard, demanding working that sees technicians out in all weathers. But the reward of knowing that you have at least helped in the effort to find someone who is safely reunited with their family must be huge.
Paul said his most satisfying case in Cambridgeshire has been an elderly man from Grantchester who went missing. Being there to see him returned home was a satisfying feeling for CamSAR members.
"We were camped very close to the family's home and after several hours of searching, he was found and returned home. The police brought him down the driveway and he was greeted by his daughter and his family. It's quite nice to be there and watch the outpouring of relief."
Unfortunately, not all searches end with relief, and sometimes the missing person is found too late.
Paul said you have to have a way of dealing with the discovery of a corpse.
"The way you have to look at it is that we've found the body, the family can start the grieving process, because there's nothing worse than someone going missing and never turning up again," he said.
"It also stops a member of the public finding it. It's not a great result but it is a result."
Whatever the outcome, there is no denying that CamSAR carries out a vital role in the search and rescue process. Yet despite this, it receives no government funding, and is reliant on donations to ensure it keeps up and running.
Does Paul think that they should get some help from other sources?
"I think we could probably do with some funding because at the end of the day we're saving the taxpayers a lot of money by not taking police officers off the beat."
If you would like to apply to volunteer with CamSAR, or would like to make a donation, visit www.camsar.org.
Alternatively, you can call 01143 600999, or send donations directly to PO Box 170, Wisbech, Cambs, PE14 4AW.
The organisation is also looking to recruit volunteers to collect collection boxes from establishments in and around Peterborough. Get in touch if you can help.
Next page: CamSAR in PeterboroughCamSAR in Peterborough
While CamSAR, as its name suggests, covers the whole of Cambridgeshire, earlier this year their work brought them to the Peterbrough area when they were involved in the search for a missing girl from Eye.
Jessica Harvey (15) went missing in September and CamSAR was called in to help the police, who were working with specialist tracker dogs
"The police did the whole of the urban area and our team did all the fields and the allotments and the rural areas. We were searching for two days," Paul said.
Fortunately, Jessica was found nearly 48 hours later when she was spotted by a police community support officer near a school in Peterborough.
Paul said: "Although we weren't directly responsible for finding her, it's a result and we had resources out there that saved the police a lot of time and effort and allowed them to do their job of the door-to-door work.
"It allows the police to concentrate more on what they do best."
Sheila admits it can be tough
SHEILA Collins always wanted to do something to help the community, but didn't think she would end up quite as involved in CamSAR as she is.
She joined up two years ago and has since gone on to become a team leader, and a passionate advocate of the organisation's work.
"It's always worthwhile, just being able to go out and help. It's good to know that I'm going out and I'm at least doing something," she said.
Despite that, Sheila, whose full time job is as a Tobacco Control Alliance coordinator, admits it can be hard going sometimes.
"It can be, especially when it's cold and wet," she said. "It can be disheartening but as a team we work together and keep one another going. As a team leader that's one of my responsibilities, to look after the welfare of my team and keep up morale when it is wet, cold and miserable."
Sheila (42) from Ely, has been involved in around six or seven searches since joining CamSAR, and finds the most difficult part of the job being taken off a search.
"It's when we've been called back and the search stopped, even if it's only temporarily, and you still haven't found the person and you start thinking 'what's happened, are they there?'. I suppose for me it's maternal instinct," she said.
"If there's someone missing you want to get out and find them. You start thinking about the person who is missing, knowing that they need to be found, they're missing for a reason."
This happened when Sheila was involved in searching for Jessica Harvey from Eye, when she went missing in September (see box, left).
"It was hard when our team was taken off because we'd done quite a few hours and another team took over. You start to think 'I hope she is OK', and nothing bad has happened.
"It's just wanting to know she's safe and home."
Soham murders inspired Garry to help
OUT of one of the most traumatic tragedies of recent years, Soham resident Garry Verducci, right, has drawn the inspiration to make a difference in the world.
Garry's son was in the same class at school as Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who were murdered in 2002, and so he and his family witnessed the drama unfold in front of them.
After that, Garry decided he wanted to serve his community. Initially he joined Suffolk search and Rescue, and a year and a half ago he joined Cambridgeshire as well.
He said: "I always wanted to do something but wasn't sure what to do, volunteering-wise. I find out about search and rescue team and I suppose for me it was initially to get out and look for kiddies that had got lost.
"As a family we were affected and that's been my way of dealing with things but since then it's moved on."
Garry (41) is now a team leader for CamSAR, and said the most difficult search he has taken part in in the county was near Newmarket, in February this year. He said: "We were looking for a young kid and we found him, but he'd died from exposure during the night.
"He was the same age as my son, and for me that was quite hard, not during the search but when you get home and you have some time to think, it kind of rattles you a bit."
But even when the outcome is sad, Garry and his fellow searchers come away feeling they have played their part and it was worth their time.
"It's totally worthwhile because even if the outcome is negative, you've been able to give closure to the family. They're not wondering about where that person is, they have answers," he said...
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