Why we cannot always talk about our searches
If you follow us on social media, you will have noticed a pattern. A post appears saying our team has been called out, and then, often, nothing more. No location, no details, no outcome. We know that can be frustrating, and we understand why people ask. So here is an honest explanation.
Almost everyone we search for is vulnerable. They may be living with dementia, experiencing a mental health crisis, or at risk of harm. The police categorise these people as high risk, which is precisely why we are deployed, and it is also why the details of the search are not ours to share. The person we find on a riverbank at 3am has a family, a home and a life to return to. They are entitled to do that without their worst night being described on the internet.
There is a harder reason too. In some cases where a missing person has come to harm, the person responsible has joined the search for them, hoping to divert or contaminate it. Publishing details of where we are looking and what we know can put an investigation, and sometimes a life, at risk.
So we follow a simple rule. We do not discuss a search unless the information is already in the public domain or the family has given us their permission. When the police clear an incident for publication, we will tell you about it, and gladly. When they do not, our biggest and most difficult callouts go completely unrecognised, which makes fundraising harder but is absolutely the right thing to do.
What we can tell you is this: our volunteers were called out more than 150 times last year, they gave thousands of hours, and most of those stories will never be told. If you would like to support work that mostly happens in silence, a donation goes further than you might think.
