Peter Burgess
New member
The Sussex police have a very sensible policy towards volunteers, certainly regarding surface searches. They can call upon three separate volunteer organisations - SUSSAR, A dog search team, and a Neighbourhood Watch Search Team. They are all encouraged to hold joint exercises, and there are several call outs each year. It was explained during training that the modern policeman lives in warm and cosy places like nice cars and is not particularly motivated to wander off in the pouring rain en masse looking for missing people, when there are masochists around who actually enjoy wild and muddy places, and more important are properly equipped to spend all day in the countryside without becoming too uncomfortable. The modern policeman is basically a townie and with the majority of police work these days being urban, that is perhaps as it should be. There is a place for the volunteer and this is recognised to the extent that Sussex Police pay for all our training. The only time the FB were involved in any incident in recent years that I know of was to provide a mobile canteen, which they were very good at - it was very welcome! - Just to emphasize the point, all the above relates to missing persons, not underground rescues.
