Lost Person Behavior

Search & Rescue companion app to the acclaimed book – Lost Person Behavior

The Lost Person Behavior App is based upon the Search and Rescue (SAR) international gold standard reference tool on where to look for lost and missing persons. Every Public Safety Official needs to know where the missing person might be, what to ask, where to look, and what to do when minutes matter. The app was built around the field needs of Public Safety Officials. No matter how remote the location, the app continues to function since no network connection is required, once installed.

This life-saving information is customized for 41 different subject categories. The categories are organized into a hierarchy of groups including external factors (abductions, aircraft), water incidents (boats and persons in the water), wheeled incidents (ATV, mountain bikes, vehicles, etc.), mental states (autism, dementia, despondent, intellectual disability, mental illness, substance intoxication), children (in five different age groups), eighteen outdoor activities (hiker, hunter, climber, gatherer, skier, etc.).

The app guides the user in selecting the correct subject category by several means. The subject category wizard allows the user to select potential scenarios and then will suggest the best match for the subject category. For example, if a child was riding his bicycle and was then known to be abducted, the user could select Child, Wheel/Motorized, and Abduction; the wizard would suggest using the abduction category. Alternately, the user can go straight to a subject category by using favorites, an alphabetical list, or the hierarchy list. Once the subject category is selected, the Lost Person Behavior App provides the user with:

• behavioral profiles

• tactical briefings

• specific investigative questions

• spatial and survival statistics

• suggestions for initial tasks (reflex tasking).

The all-new tactical briefings distill the statistics and profiles to the key points that every field searcher must know. The more extensive profile, full statistics, and suggested initial tasks assist even the seasoned search planner. The highly detailed questions for the investigation resulted from decades of SAR experience and thousands of missions.

The app even allows you to email a checklist of these critical tasks and interview questions so that you may print them out. The email could also be used for providing remote support or documenting tasks that have been completed.

Determining where to look is one of the major functions of the search statistics, which are now provided in a graphical and tabular format. The statistics from thousands of SAR missions allow the search planner to see where similar previous search subjects were found. The SAR statistics include:

• Distance from the Initial Planning Point

• Elevation model (likelihood of going up, down, or staying at the same elevation)

• Mobility model (how long will the subject keep moving)

• Dispersion angle (given a direction of travel, how well does that predict subject’s location)

• Track Offset model (how far away from a feature such as a road or trail is subject found)

• Find location (at what type of geographic feature was the subject found)

• Scenario (what caused the subject to become missing)

• Survivability overall (what is the overall chance of finding the subject alive or injured)

• Survivability rate (how does survivability rate change in 24-hour increments).

The Lost Person Behavior App can be easily customized to only show the statistical information you actually need. The user can customize for ecoregion, terrain, and urban incidents. The user can view the data in both metric and English units. Several additional helpful tools are built into the app. Contextual help is provided on every page with additional information boxes, which explain every element of the app on the page you need. The information page provides information about the bike wheel model used to describe initial tactical deployment (reflex tasking), a glossary, help, and contact information.