Description
The goal of the project is to monitor police activities in the field of using search and rescue (SAR) organisations for operations to search for people in open terrain and developing dispatch and liaison procedures for SAR organisations. The project will form working groups and a consultation meeting with ITAKA, SAR organisations, police and fire fighters. SAR organisations' resources and capabilities will be reviewed and a system for onboarding new procedures will be designed. The project's beneficiaries include the police, fire service and SAR organisations; lost persons and their families will be the final beneficiaries. The partner, Voluntary Fire Service SAR Squad in Kęty, is experienced in searching for lost people in open terrain using rescue dogs. It will help with building the register, putting together working group meetings and will co-organise the consultation meeting. It will participate in the process of defining procedures and the procedure implementation monitoring system.
Summary of project results
"Police statistics reveal that the number of missing persons is growing every year. When the life and health of a missing person is at risk, specialized search and rescue organizations (OPR) come into play. Interviews with the families of missing persons, OPR and police prove that search and rescue resources are not always used. One of the reasons is lack of a harmonized register of search and rescue resources and imprecise police procedures. The goal of the project was to improve cooperation between the police and OPR in open ground search by initiating the dialogue and the development of terms and conditions of such cooperation. The project has led to the integration of OPR and closer cooperation with local police and Provincial Police Headquarters. It also spurred broad discussions at the regional level and has led to the development of preliminary procedures. Proposals of changes were discussed with the National Police Headquarters, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and within search team structures. Four working group meetings were held in Poznań, Kęty, Gdańsk and Warsaw. A search and rescue register featuring 56 units was put in place. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 60 police officers and 27 OPR to collect data about the use of OPR by police. Members of OPR evaluated their cooperation with the police. Findings of surveys and cooperation proposals were presented and discussed during a consultation meeting with the authorities supervising operations of the police and OPR. The report on the results of the project has been distributed to OPR, provincial police coordinators and supervising authorities and discussed at a conference. Apart from that, monitoring of applicable legislation was carried out; work was also underway on the draft of a complex legal solution for the cooperation of police and NGOs in open terrain searches. Information about the project has reached a wide audience: citizens, media, local authorities, rescuers, and police officers. The Partner held three working group meetings and co-organized a consultation meeting."
Summary of bilateral results