Join us
We are pleased to receive applications for future membership. A reasonable degree of physical fitness is needed to be an active searcher but any regular walker, especially of our county’s beautiful countryside, is probably fit enough.
Please bear in mind that we often walk many miles over many hours, over sometimes difficult and often hilly terrain, and stiles and similar might be encountered.
It is important that you're able to work as part of a team and you are able to follow instructions given by a team leader.
Safety is paramount, a risk assessment is undertaken for all activities.
The urgent need to help search for missing persons means the police call-outs often come with little or no notice and require an immediate response. Consequently, it is important that recruits have a reasonable level of availability throughout the week.
This often suits people who are retired, work part-time or on shift work.
You will be vetted by Sussex Police (Non-Police Personnel Vetting level 1) and receive all the necessary training to achieve and maintain the high standard of competence required.
As a searcher, you must attend a minimum of one call-out or training event per year: this is not onerous and many searchers respond to as many call-outs as they can. It is very rewarding to do such valuable work for our community and to work as a team.
There’s no disappointment in a deployed search team that fails to find anything. It can be vital to know, with a high degree of confidence, that the area didn’t contain the person or item when it was searched. This allows the search to be re-focused on other areas, often with an increased probability of success. Equally, there’s no frustration if we’re redeployed to the same area, as the person might have been sighted there after our search, perhaps the following day.
We rely on donations to fund the provision of our specialist equipment, and these also allow us to provide some personal kit such as our distinctive hi-vis tabards.
If you are interested in joining the team as a searcher, or can help in another role, please complete the form below.
JOIN US
Please fill in this form and we'll be in touch.