Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Sociology

Supervisor

Huey, Laura

Abstract

A three-year-old toddler stuck for eight days in a hidden ditch on a 60-acre farm. A 92-year-old woman with dementia lost on a section of well-used train tracks. A teenager experiencing suicidal thoughts while hiding atop a mountain. These are real missing persons cases, revealed through my extensive research conducted with police in Canada who perform one of the most critical and least understood tasks within policing: search and rescue (SAR).

While many missing persons cases reported to the police in Canada are successfully resolved within 48 hours with the individual located safe and well, some are significantly more challenging because of unique aspects of the individual’s situation, including their physical or mental capacity, the location from which they went missing, the terrain in which they are most likely to be found, or environmental conditions that hamper their discovery or pose a threat to their physical safety. These complex cases of missing individuals fall to police SAR personnel to find and/or rescue. As a part of Canada’s complex SAR system, police play a significant part in the successful resolution of missing persons reports.

Despite this, there is a shortage of literature on this area of police work, resulting in several public and scholarly calls for research dedicated to uncovering what the police do, how effective they are at doing it, and what can be improved in SAR. This dissertation attempts to fill such gaps in understanding by analyzing aspects of police SAR work. It does so by undertaking a sociological analysis of police SAR personnel’s work individually and collectively and with respect to the organization of policing. This research also analyzes what works, what does not, and what can be done better to generate scientific insights that can be used for bettering police practice and policy and advancing the knowledge base as part of the calls in the global evidence-based policing movement.

To do so, it draws from a collection of data, including over 200 in-depth interviews and surveys with police and thousands of different types of police missing persons records. Laced with the stories of missing persons, it presents a detailed overview of what these personnel do, the processes and procedures employed in this work, and the tools and technologies in SAR. It further explores some of the strengths of this work and the challenges impacting police SAR responses. This dissertation also identifies future trends to address the “what may be next” question in the police SAR response to missing persons. Ultimately, the insights gleaned from this dissertation not only offer understandings of this area of policing but also provide practical recommendations for improving police SAR work, which serves the broader goal of safeguarding communities and saving lives.

Summary for Lay Audience

Police search and rescue (SAR) plays a significant part in successfully locating and rescuing missing persons cases. Despite this, there is a shortage of literature on this area of police work, resulting in several public and scholarly calls for research dedicated to uncovering what the police do, how effective they are at doing it, and what can be improved in SAR in Canada. This dissertation attempts to fill such gaps in understanding by analyzing aspects of police SAR work. It also seeks to generate scientific insights that can be used for bettering police practice and policy and advancing the knowledge base as part of the calls in the global evidence-based policing movement. It draws from a collection of data, including in-depth interviews and surveys with Canadian police personnel and thousands of different types of police missing persons records. Laced with the stories of missing persons, it presents a detailed overview of what these personnel do, the processes and procedures employed, and the tools and technologies in police SAR. It explores the challenges impacting police SAR response, emphasizing what works, what does not, and what can be done better in this policing area. This dissertation also identifies future trends to address the “what may be next” question in the police SAR response to missing persons in Canada. It concludes with practical recommendations for improving police SAR work, which serves the broader goal of safeguarding Canadian communities and saving lives.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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