Community & Business
27 March, 2022
Services combine for training
ELEVEN police officers and four SES officers combined recently to complete a seven-day Land Search and Rescue Field Coordinators training course in Mareeba – and they had one of the best experts in Australia to help them learn the ropes.
The Queensland Police Service coordinates on average 900 marine-based and 400 landbased search and rescue operations (SAR) annually.
Overseeing the coordination for all land and sea-based search and rescue operations in Queensland falls to Senior Sergeant Jim Whitehead who has propelled the Queensland police service to be considered the leading state SAR authority within Australia.
He developed the Queensland SAR System, created national training packages for SAR Diploma and Advanced Diploma courses, and facilitated training for numerous SAR courses within Australia and internationally.
He also created the Australian Lost Person Behaviour Database (online) which provides better success rates for SAR incidents.
Recently, 11 police officers and four SES officers completed a seven-day Land Search and Rescue Field Coordinators training course in Mareeba, under Senior Sergeant Whitehead’s hand.
The participants were required to do both written and practical elements covering navigation, map reading and how to implement and manage searches for missing people.
On 5 March, a practical orientation exercise was undertaken at Granite Gorge followed on 6 March by a SAR exercise scenario to locate a missing child, also at Granite Gorge.
There are now 30 police officers in the Far North region trained as Search and Rescue Field Coordinators (land).
Police wish to thank the volunteers from SES who spend the day assisting with the exercise and to Granite Gorge Nature Park for allowing their property to be used.
