OPP SAR Missing Persons - Contrasting Perspectives
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Presentation "Missing Persons SAR, Contrasting Perspectives" by Maureen Trask and Michael Larocque presentation to the North SAR Mgmt, Ontario, held on Jan. 17, 2024.
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OPP SAR Missing Persons - Contrasting Perspectives
- 1. 1 Missing Persons - Search and Rescue (SAR) Contrasting Perspectives For: OPP SAR Management By: Maureen Trask and Mike Larocque On: Wed. Jan. 17, 2024 1:30 – 3:30 PM
- 2. 2 Missing Persons - SAR Looking at the Family and SAR Perspectives 1. The Family Journey 2. The Search Response 3. The Ripples of Change
- 3. 3 Daniel Robert Trask Missing Nov. 3, 2011 Found May 24, 2015
- 4. 4
- 5. 5 Missing Persons MibSAR Cases Source: Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue (MibSAR): Cases in Canada OPP Jurisdiction Cases: Daniel Trask (Found) George Weeden and Merle Newcomber Michael Linklater Lorraine Roach Christina Calayca Aju Irorga
- 6. 6 Missing Persons – SAR The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has a search and rescue (SAR) team that is responsible for coordinating and executing SAR operations in Ontario. The OPP’s SAR team is comprised of highly trained and specialized personnel who are equipped to handle a wide range of emergency situations, including missing persons, natural disasters, and other critical incidents. Source: Bing AI Search, Jan. 2024
- 7. 7 Missing Persons – SAR • OPP are the leading agency for SAR in Ontario (2019) • SAR members complete an intensive specialist training • Utilize a variety of tools and technology to find missing persons • Partnership is key for a timely search response The OPP is trusted to: • provide air support for search and rescue, prisoner transport and investigation • provide specialized response services across the province (air, water, land)
- 10. Missing Persons Act, Ontario* 10 OPP Measure: Numbers by Year Year Urgent Demands Made MP Investigations with Demands Made Avg. Demands Made per Investigation 2019 34 19 1.8 2020 124 53 2.3 2021 142 57 2.5 Total 300 129 6.6 Avg/Year 100 43 2.2 * OPP Missing Persons Annual Report Data - Open Government Portal (canada.ca), Gov. of Canada
- 11. Challenges for Families 11 Difficulty understanding and navigating the process Everchanging officers and/or jurisdictions Limited 2-way communications Lack of trust with limited support Limited rights Keeping their missing loved one in the public/media Managing their missing loved one’s affairs Balancing life demands, living without knowing Limited community or employer assistance and understanding Fractured family dynamics, especially as time goes on
- 12. Info for Families 12 OPP Orillia, ON (Mail Code 4220 2018) VS Waterloo Region, ON (2015)
- 13. Missing Persons - Recommendations 13 Family input (needs) based on their lived experience: 1. Reporting 2. Investigations 3. Searches 4. Communications 5. Media 6. Training 7. Truth and Justice Report Link: https://www.slideshare.net/trasker/missing-persons-recommendations
- 14. 14
- 15. 15 Published Nov. 12, 2023 Contents 1. Intro to SAR in Canada 2. The Organization of Police SAR 3. The Launch of Police SAR Response 4. The Work of Police SAR, Part I 5. The Work of Police SAR, Part II 6. The Events After Police SAR Response 7. Outroduction to Police SAR
- 16. What is Ambiguous Loss? 16
- 17. Ambiguous Loss Explained Dr. Pauline Boss, principal theorist of the concept of Ambiguous Loss and Dr. Gloria Horsley, founder and president of Open to Hope Foundation, discuss Ambiguous Loss at the annual Association of Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) Conference, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2vYyefAgZ0 17
- 18. There is no “Closure” 18
- 19. Remembering Daniel 19 Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst, and NEVER GIVE-UP.
- 20. 20 Maureen Trask: trasker@rogers.com Presentation and Resource Materials are available. “Thanks” Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst, and NEVER GIVE-UP.
Editor's Notes
- Land Acknowledgement The land across Mother Earth is known to many Indigenous people as Turtle Island. The story of Turtle Island varies among Indigenous communities, but by most accounts, it acts as a creation story that places emphasis on the Turtle as a symbol of life and earth. We live and work on this land that is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people. In respect of all Indigenous people and their ancestors, and in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, I humbly offer this land acknowledgement, in a good way. Ambiguous Loss Training: Support for Families with Missing Loved Ones For OPP VS Specialists, Dec. 2, 2021
- - I’m here to share my journey of ambiguous loss, with having had a missing son for 3 ½ years. - Daniel had set me on this path, which was new to me, but I have learned lots about strength, resiliency, never giving up. This was his gift to me. - As a parent, no one prepares you for this type of loss.. -Through this presentation, I will explain what ambiguous loss is, what you helps to support families and how to relate to their experience of uncertainty, especially in these times of COVID, offering new opportunity for peer support. So, as a Mom left behind, living in limbo, with frozen grief, not knowing what I was grieving or how to deal with this loss. Certainly, m ore questions than answers. My journey was 3 ½ years. Many have endured this path on their own, for far too many years. A poem “When Someone you love goes missing”, by Tom M. Brown, speaks to this journey. In the Reference Materials.
- Shared by MibSAR Team Lead, Michael Neiger
- 2011, Nov. 11 - Car Found 2012, May 20 - Winter Clothing Found 2013, Aug. 12 - Back Pack Found 2014, Nothing Found but our first grandson Grayson Daniel was born on Dec. 9th 2015, May 24 - FOUND, thanks to MibSAR Team 2015, Sept. 12 - Daniel's ashes were scattered on Chee-Skon Lake
- 2011, Nov. 11 - Car Found 2012, May 20 - Winter Clothing Found 2013, Aug. 12 - Back Pack Found 2014, Nothing Found but our first grandson Grayson Daniel was born on Dec. 9th 2015, May 24 - FOUND, thanks to MibSAR Team 2015, Sept. 12 - Daniel's ashes were scattered on Chee-Skon Lake
- The landscape of the missing is changing in many ways: MMIW, Defund Police, Missing People UK, The Missed Foundation AU, Locate Int., Crime Crushing Int. MP Research Hub CA, Nat. MP DNA Databank, CA, Body Farm QC, COVID Manned Drones, Unmanned Systems Research, Hack A Thons, Social Media, MCSC Rescu App Canada’s MMIW Inquiry has shone a light on the gaps in services and systems. Lots of recommendations that will address some of this. The "defund the police" slogan became common during the George Floyd protests starting in May 2020, as well as public outcry of ever-increasing police budgets and questions about non-profits and community being more suitable. Other countries have a missing persons Framework on a national level (UK, AU, Scotland). Canada has NCMPUR program. Broader approach to finding missing persons, including engaging academic students to help solve cases (Locate UK). Locally, we have Please Bring Me Home and podcasters, such as “Can I Help Find Your Missing Loved One” Diane Trepkov. Canada now has a Missing Persons Research Hub, thanks to Lorna Ferguson, London, ON. Canada has new national DNA indices for missing persons and family member, compared/matched to unidentified remains. Forensic Genetic Genealogy (such as Othram) partners with NAMUS for DNA sequencing, several cases in Canada. Body Farms (QC) to research/study body decomposition, as well as study of bodies in water, impact of temp, burned bodies etc. COVID is teaching us all about living with uncertainty, the unknown (our experience, Ambiguous Loss). Drones are providing new possibilities for searching with much success (air and water, remote or grid mapped). Teams work to solve difficult missing person cases by gathering social media data about them (National Missing Persons Hackathon). Social media is helping to share missing person cases, organizing searches, sharing information, making appeals, vigils and updates. Mobile apps such as new RESCU to push out missing children notifications for those signed up.
- The data includes: year in which the urgent demands were made / investigations occurred the number of missing persons investigations for which urgent demands for records were made total number of urgent demands for records made by OPP in a particular year The “total number of urgent demands made” value for 2020 – which previously had only accounted for the number of Form 5s submitted instead of each individual urgent demand made – was amended May 2022 to reflect the number of individual demands made, based on the 2020 OPP Missing Persons Act annual report.
- OPP “Missing Persons – A Guide for Families of Missing Persons Anti-Human Trafficking Investigation Coordination Team 777 Memorial Ave. 4th Floor Orillia, ON L3V 7V3 Mail Code 4220 Received May 16, 2018 Victim Services of Waterloo Region, Waterloo, ON “Missing Person Information and Support Services Brochure” For those left behind, know that you’re not alone. Nov. 2015, Version 2 www.vswr.ca 519-585-2363 Halton Regional Police have created an information sheet for Families who report a Missing Persons titled: Missing Persons – Common Reactions of those left behind, 2014 Contact: Kimberley Clark, Victim Services Unit, Halton Regional Police Also: A Family Toolkit: Information for Families of Missing Persons, Victim Services, Regina Saskatchewan Contact: Rhonda Fiddler, Missing Persons Liaison at Regina Police Service
- The voice of Families with Missing Loved ones (Missing Persons) is critical to ensure their needs are met and reflected in policy, process and procedures. This document captures the needs and gaps identified by the Families. Policing in Ontario: six principles: Ontario is the first province in Canada to have a Declaration of Principles: Principles Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019, S.O. 2019, c. 1 - Bill 68 written into its statutes. With these principles, Ontario’s police specifically declare: 4. The importance of respect for victims of crime and understanding of their needs. Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correction Services (MCSCS), updated May 26, 2018ii Now Ministry is known as: “Ministry of the Solicitor General” as the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019, S.O. 2019, c. 1 - Bill 68
- PREVENT: To introduce preventive measures to reduce the number of missing persons occurrences. RESPOND: To respond consistently and appropriately to missing persons occurrences. SUPPORT: To provide the best possible support to both missing people and their families. PROTECT: To protect vulnerable missing people and reduce the risks of harm. New technology is a factor that can help advance all key areas of the Framework. Who Plays a Role? Families and their Missing Loved Ones (Victim or Survivor?) Police (Reporting, Searches and Investigations) Partners (SAR Teams, Private Investigators, Civilian Groups, Crime Stoppers, Coroners, Forensics, Psychics) Media (Press Releases, Feature Coverage, Social Media) Government (Policy, Legislation, Regulations, Funding, Inter-Ministry Committee, Minister or Oversight, Stats Canada) Supports (Advocates, Agencies, Groups, Peers, Coworkers, Schools) Public Health (Hospitals, Pharmacies, CMHA, Doctors) Financial (Banks, Trusts, Employers, CRA, Telecoms) Friends (Faith/Spiritual, Lawyers, Social Services, Peers) Schools, Crime Prevention Councils, Experts Why? To ensure Consistent, Transparent, Accountable, Trust, Fair, and Equitable processes, systems, supports and services. Canada needs a national Missing Persons Framework Families deserve this. Those who are Missing deserve this. Let’s give them a voice, listen to them. We urge the Government to recognize that focused and streamlined national services are an essential part of providing better outcomes to missing people and their families.
- Dr. Pauline Boss presented the theory of ambiguous loss in 1999 (book). She has also applied her theory by facilitating support for families in numerous disasters including 9/11, Thailand tsunami, and Malaysian air crash. When I learned of her work, I read her books and immediately connected with what I was experiencing, it made sense. It wasn’t me, it was the situation. I contacted her to learn more and determine if support material or services were available for families such as mine, very little in Canada. This short clip is an excellent introduction to ambiguous loss. Pauline has written subsequent books on Loss, Trauma and Resilience (2006) and Dementia (2011), building on research and clinical experience of ambiguous loss. In Loss, Trauma, and Resilience, Boss provides the therapeutic insight and wisdom that aids mental health professionals in not "going for closure," but rather building strength and acceptance of ambiguity. What readers will find is a concrete therapeutic approach that is at once directive and open to the complex contexts in which people find meaning and discover hope in the face of ambiguous losses. In Loving Someone Who Has Dementia, Boss builds on research and clinical experience, yet the material is presented as a conversation. She shows you a way to embrace rather than resist the ambiguity in your relationship with someone who has dementia.
- Dr. Pauline Boss presented the theory of ambiguous loss in 1999 (book). This comment explains ambiguous loss as an uncertain, unexplained loss, lacking answers, unsolvable. Closure is a Myth (even with Death). Closure is not part of the grieving process. Nor is it necessary for healing. A connection formed in LOVE can’t be closed. (The Grief Toolbox) Is closure a myth? Complete closure is not possible with any loss because loss is never satisfying. However, with ambiguous loss there is absolutely no closure because there is no verification of death, no real goodbye rituals such as and burial. Ambiguous loss defies closure even with healthy families as discussed by Pauline Boss and Donna Carnes, in Family Process article, 2012. I agree with their summary that ambiguous loss with its lack of closure makes immense demands on the human capacity to cope and grieve. So to me, there will be no closure for me. Even if Daniel is found deceased, I agree that my connection formed in LOVE can’t be closed. This too is being questioned in traditional loss. Closure is a word I really, really do not like, which is true of others with missing loved ones. Instead, I prefer to say it’s answers I need. If answers are not available, then I need to find comfort in the uncertainty, some sense of meaning from this, peace, but certainly not “Closure”. Families will never have closure, the best we can get is answers.