Devon and Cornwall Police officers trained in lost person searches

Missing person training was carried out on Dartmoor

Seventeen police officers have been recently trained to be lost person search managers (LPSM), Devon and Cornwall Police has said.

The force said the officers were involved in a large-scale exercise on Dartmoor as part of the training.

It said LPSMs worked to locate a missing person in rough terrain "as quickly and safely as possible".

LPSMs also run searches where a person is reported as lost or a high-risk missing person, it added.

'Vital' operations

As part of the five-day exercise in Venford in March, which involved about 140 people from various agencies and volunteers, trainees had to navigate through real-life scenarios.

The scenarios included locating a person who was lost after going to a rave and taking drugs, a person who had fallen off a rock edge and needed a rope rescue, and finding a wild swimmer who had failed to get home.

Richard Loxton, a police officer who supported the running of the course, said: "People become lost for a number of reasons, including errors in navigation, disorientation and through worsened weather conditions.

"It's vital for us to find people quickly to keep them safe, particularly during inclement weather conditions when lives can be at risk."

About three people were reported as a high-risk missing person a day to police, officers said.

A high-risk missing person was where the risk of serious harm to the individual was likely, including people with mental health conditions, children, or individuals who had dementia, they added.

In addition to the 17 police officers, six people from agencies including HM Coastguard also passed the course.

The latest 17 officers means police have 65 LPSMs.

Agencies involved in the exercise also included mountain rescue teams from across Devon and Cornwall, search dogs, coastguards and the Dartmoor National Park Authority.