I was called in my capacity as a PolSA to deal with a vulnerable missing man who had been missing for some days, his whereabouts were unknown until his car was found in a beauty spot car park in Mid Sussex.  

I called out our search volunteers - Neighbourhood Watch, Sussex Search and Rescue and the Lowland Search Dogs who in turn circulated the call to similar groups in Surrey and Hampshire and started my journey to the scene.  I knew there were areas of water and a requirement for all hands to assist, so I mobilised my team from their current tasking to follow on with the SSU dive lorry.  Whilst en-route I rang home, it was likely I was going to miss dinner again, it was going to be a long day.

When I got to the car park I was met by the sergeant and inspector who had been dealing with the job.  I had already gleaned information from the computer and had looked at mapping before I had left so was one step ahead, even so there is quite a lot of pressure of people looking to you to get things done quickly and searchers were already waiting to be tasked.

I sectored off the maps into small areas and prioritised them, I then briefed the resources as they arrived and allocated search areas.  The terrain was tough - uneven ground and thick vegetation, everyone coming back from their areas was drained of energy.  Each area needs to be done by both dog units and foot units.  Any areas that can’t be accessed safely (such as water, steep drops or confined spaces) get done by us on the SSU.  In this case my Team waded a river in the hot spot area and also checked a water filled quarry and several other ponds. 

Searching takes time and the evening rumbled on, as darkness fell my concern for the missing man grew.  I was starving and thirsty and I knew if he was in the forest without supplies he would have been in a bad way.  All of the Units carried on despite the difficult conditions and at 10PM the missing man was found in forest, exposed and alone by a Lowland Search dog unit, he had been there for some days and was dehydrated but otherwise unharmed.  

I had sent the SSU away from the scene earlier and when I got back to the Base at 1230 AM the following morning the Base was in darkness, I crept into the front door and stepped past the various members of my Unit who were asleep on the floor - Moomin was asleep in the van, Arf in the locker room and goodness knows where everyone else was sleeping.  I quietly got to my office and was relieved to see that Arf had put up my camp bed for me before he had gone to bed.  

I found my sleeping bags in my cupboard but realised I had nothing to wear apart from my uniform so I settled for the only item of clothing I could find that was near enough appropriate to wear in bed at the Base - a swimming costume.

I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and (unbeknown to me Jonathan had woken from his slumber elsewhere in the Hangar and had stumbled into the bathroom to visit the toilet) was confronted with the sight of Jonathan in a pair of badly fitting novelty Popeye underpants, still with his ear plugs in situ and eyes half closed.

When I was first called about this missing man my first thoughts were of concern as having been a PolSA for a few years you get to know when things don’t look good, generally if a person is depressed and gravitates to a beauty spot it sometimes ends up with the person taking their own life.  There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you get the phone call to tell you the missing person has been located alive, there are so many times where the outcome is a tragic one but you hold onto hope that they will be found alive and you marvel at how resilient the human body is to allow people to survive against the odds.  

I have the utmost admiration for all people who work in search - it is hard work and demanding both mentally and physically and isn’t for everyone.  The volunteer groups who give their time free to us are highly trained and regulated and their dedication is second to none.

I got into bed on my office floor and lay there, in my swimming costume, with the sound of the explosive particle detector machine whirring away in the next room and the image of Jonathan in his underpants in my mind and considered; “Is there a limit to what I would do to serve Sussex?”

And my conclusion is; probably not.