Search and Rescue News
96 Search and Rescue Activations over 12 months
October 2020 – The Bays Metro Search and Rescue unit has assisted with 96 search operations over the last twelve months.
The latest joint search operation was for Adriaan Scheepers who disappeared from his Sherwood home in early October.
By Mid-October Metro Search and Rescue had been activated to assist with the search.
Details around Scheepers disappearance remain under police investigation and cannot be revealed at this stage.
Metro Search and Rescue coordinator Rhys Naude said that the joint operation involved Sherwood Neighbourhood Watch as well as Atlas Security and CityWide Security.
“SA Police as well as the family asked for an additional search to be conducted in the nearby bushes. The three hour operation saw several members deployed as well as a Drone and K9 Unit,” he said.
SA Police are still investigating the matter.
In a separate search, Metro Search and Rescue assisted with locating a missing Port Elizabeth woman on August 26.
“We were activated and deployed several teams to assist detectives. Family and friends embarked on their own search, which we assisted with.
Members deployed to Settlers Valley were they were alerted to an unconscious woman lying in the nearby bushes, Naude said.
“On arriving at the scene, Metro Search and Rescue members began to stabilize the woman while advance life-support was en-route.”
The woman survived and was transported to St Georges Hospital in a critical condition.
Days later the woman was stabilized and then discharged after making a full recovery.
Municipal Disaster Management head Shane Brown, said that despite Covid-19 and other challenges, the unit attended to 96 search and rescue operations between June 2019 and July 2020 .
“There is no doubt that lives were saved due to the extensive effort of this unit. Efforts to assist the Police further are underway and include hi-tech equipment used to located and track down missing persons”
Read More:
Follow our Facebook, Twitter and Youtube posts up to keep updated.
Search and Rescue K9 Unit Refresher Training
Police Airwing drills
1 February 2020 – Metro Search and Rescue joined the Port Elizabeth Police Airwing in a series of operational preparedness training drills.
The unit, together with various role-players, train constantly and are committed to Search and Rescue operations across the Bay, Eastern Cape and even South Africa if needed.
The drills aim to ensure preparedness for all scenarios, including helicopter and other aircraft operations.
In these drills, our Search and Rescue team – Dog Unit, Mountain Rescue and Search Teams – are training to be deployed by helicopter.
Follow our Facebook, Twitter and Youtube posts up to keep updated.January 30
Mountain Rescue training
18 January 2020 – Metro search and rescue embarked on a mountain rescue drill as part of our team’s efforts to stay up to date with the latest rescue techniques.
While each division has a specific function, they all function as one unit assisting each other during a call-out.
Search and Rescue assists at Festive season roadblock
Metro Search and Rescue, as well as the K9 Unit, assisted with a joint festive season roadblock held on the N2 outside Port Elizabeth on December 20.
The roadblock was organised by the SA Police and the Bays Safety and Security Directorate.
Role-Players included Nelson Mandela Bay Search and Rescue, Disaster Management, Fire and Traffic Departments as well as Metro police.
The aim of the roadblock was to identify illegal vehicles on the road as well as create awareness about the ongoing drought in the Bay.
Pamphlets and stickers with emergency contact numbers were also handed out to passing motorists.
One of the focuses was to hand out the contact numbers of emergency services to ensure that visitors in the Bay know who to call if they need help.
WATCH: Dog missing person training
Watch out Search and Rescue dog track a missing person
To keep our dogs in focused we train on a regular basis.
While it looks like fairly easy and simple, the dog is in fact isolating a specific scent among the thousands of other scent. The dog, in this case Bear, then ‘zones in’ on that specific scent we have told her to find and leads us to the ‘missing person’.
In video you will see we did not have start point which means the dog has to scours the area finding the track / trail until locating the persons scent. Once the dog finds the scents, the trailing begins.
Two examples are shown here. The dog is on a long lead and ‘drags’ the handler to the missing person by working the scent. In both examples it is very windy, so the scent blows around making it more challenging. We train in wind, thunder; rain and sunshine to ensure out dogs are all-rounders.
Watch how our SAR (Search and Rescue) dog discriminates between the different scents in an open field.
Bear, a German Shepard, manages to isolate the scent we are looking for and locate it – with out any hassle.
This is used on crime scenes (missing person or abductions) to locate any evidence that was possibly dropped or left behind.
In this video we placed two scent cloths (from two Dutch tourists) and told the dog – Bear – to find each specific scent cloth in an open field.
The Metro Search and Rescue Dog Unit are constantly training to ensure or dogs are ready for deployment at any time.
A quick training session mimicking an abandoned vehicle leading to a missing person search.
The advantage of this method is that the dog can cover far more ground, quicker, without the handler slowing the dog down.
Once located, the dog returns to the handler, barks (basically saying that they found the person) and then the team gives chase as the dog leads us to the person.
This also mimics a missing person however, in this case, we have a item of clothing with the missing persons scent.
Note how the dog takes scent and then bolts off to locate the person.
I fall behind while she deploys to a massive area to search – with no ‘control’ by the handler.
The advantage of this method is that the dog can cover far more ground, quicker, without the handler slowing the dog down.
Once located, the dog returns to the handler, barks (basically saying that they found the person) and then the team gives chase as the dog leads us to the person
This is a very fast paced track and trailing exercises.
Second scenario: Off-lead search in a large bushy area
This also mimics a missing person however, in this case, we have a item of clothing with the missing persons scent.
Note how the dog takes scent and then bolts off to locate the person.
Searching for evidence around a building
Evidence detection around a house or building is critical when searching for evidence on a crime scene.
The Port Elizabeth based Search and Rescue Dog Unit are constantly adapting and changing their scenarios to assist police in solving crimes.
Not only do we assist with missing people, we also help detectives in locating critical evidence.
The video shows how we train our Search and Rescue dog in evidence detection at a house. This is mostly used in kidnappings, abductions or missing person cases where investigators want to search a specific area.
The video will walk you through how we search around a house to gather evidence.
Past videos have shown how we do this in the bush and long grass.
When detecting evidence – or articles – in a built up area, the dog needs to smell under all items that would usually be found in a yard. This includes in cracks of the walls, in the plants, in the braai (barbeque) places as well as in piles of wood, pot plants and even in garages.
In this scenario, we are searching around a house to find traces of a ‘missing person’ that will allow investigators to determine if the person was at that address or not.
More videos will be posted on how the dogs search a vehicle, garages and even out buildings for the specific scent of the ‘missing person’.
Watch this space for more videos to come …Search and Rescue dog
41 SEARCH OPERATIONS TO DATE
NMB Metro Search and Rescue has assisted with 41 search operations across the Metro since January 2019.
These operations vary from missing persons and runaway children to large area bush searches and possible abductions.
The units latest figures from January 1 to July 10, 2019, show that the bulk of our activations are suicidal persons and run away children or adults
During the same time period, the unit assisted the police with three wilderness searches in areas surrounding the Bay as well as with co-coordinating search parties for structured searches.
The unit is activated directly by 10111 or the Metro’s Disaster Management Centre in the event of assistance being required by authorities.
A strict protocol has been adopted due to the number of ‘false’ or prank call-outs for missing persons.
While our core function is Urban and Wilderness Search and Rescue linked to Disasters, we pride ourselves in helping the police.
Our mandate, under the Metro Disaster Management Centre, includes all emergency scenarios where mass causality events occur or are highly probable. Due to the rough terrain in the Eastern Cape, a trained Mountain Rescue was also established.
The unit works hand-in-hand with the SA Police, Metro Police, Fire Department and other emergency services.
As of June, we formed a partnership with security companies to facilitate the flow of information sharing and speed up the distribution of critical details for missing persons.
This will ensure that correct and accurate details are shared on social media – by the relevant security companies – who monitor several security related groups.
A decision to co-ordinate the flow of information follows the amount of fake and false information being circulated in the event of a missing person case.
We urge people to report any missing person – as fast as possible – to the local police (and 10111) so that our unit can be placed on standby and assist.
Our Search and Rescue Dog Unit – with tracking, trailing and evidence dogs – as well as other teams are ready to assist with any scenario.
Detectives use our dogs to gather evidence while they are also used to track down missing persons.
Evidence detection training on Monday 8 July, 2019, at a school field, surrounded by bush, in Theescombe area.
The Search and Rescue dog training is known as article detection – off lead – and for those who do not know the terminology, this boils down to evidence detection.
In this case Bear is able to isolate a specific scent (in this case the rag i give her to smell in the video) and based on this she locates the articles – which are hidden.
Obviously, this tool is valuable on crime scenes – or possible abductions and kidnappings – where investigators are seeking evidence.
In this video it is a child’s toy and a piece of rag – both with specific scent on them.
This is a video of our Search and Rescue dog training at Norm Hudlin, in Port Elizabeth, on July 3, 2019. Bear, a German Shepard, is the Units first trained Search and Rescue dog – specialising in human detection live scent and evidence detection.
In the video, you will see Kerri – the victim – walking off into the woods. She walked 1.6km’s on the farm before hiding. This is a ‘blind find’, meaning we did not know where she was or which direction she took.
The track started as on-lead but as we entered the ‘forest’ area I opted to move to off-lead. One reason is because the change of terrain would mean ground and air scenting while the second reason is changing wind direction.
Based on several external factors, it seemed logical to mix the training up and do a dual track. Some main reasons for my decision include the constant ‘swirling’ and shift in wind direction, the tree line disrupting the wind flow for air scenting, the change in terrain for grass to sand and because the area was highly contaminated by other scents such as cyclists, walkers, cows etc)
On completion of the track (which is GPS monitored), it was established the victim (Kerri) tried to confuse Bear by running in different directions.
After comparing the tracks via GPS, it is safe to say Bear managed to locate the “missing person” – fairly deep in the bush – within 10 minutes.
Check out our Facebook and YouTube channel to see more videos
KEEPING CHECKING THIS PAGE FOR THE LASTEST ALERTS
As part our service to residents in the Bay and Eastern Cape, Disaster Management Search and Rescue will place alerts on this platform when we are placed on standby for pending incidents. The Metro has a 24 hour alert system that allows us to, in most cases, to foresee any natural disasters. This includes flooding, possible evacuations of low lying areas and even, in some cases, fire evacuations...
Neighbourhood Watches sign MoU
The Eastern Cape Association of Neighbourhood Watches (ECANHW) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Disaster Management to ensure manpower is available in the event of a disaster.
The ECANHW represents various neighbourhood watches across the Bay - a few hundred active patrollers and residents - and aim to bring all like minded persons under one umbrella.
Only Neighbourhood Watches who meet certain criteria under the agreement will be considered members.
Criteria includes a code-of-conduct, up-to-date records of members, police vetting of members and all relevant paperwork signed off by the SA Police.
The process ensures strict compliance between all bodies and aims to ensure that, in an emergency, Search and Rescue as well as Disaster Management can call on them to assist with operations.
Currently, the project is underway and is expected to be completed soon.
During large scale search operations, the ECANHW's will facilitate manpower to ensure a searches remain co-ordinated and structured.
More to follow as the process unfolds...