Bringing ‘mispers’ home
A volunteer’s experience
After semi-retiring from one of the county’s leading accountancy practices, Jack O’Hern has joined LincsLSAR and is training as a search technician.
“After many years working in an office – and as a Trustee for local charities – I wanted to find something that I could get involved with ‘on the ground’ whilst also bringing some of the skills I have learned in my professional career,” said Jack. “After 9 years at Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance (LNAA), I had seen the impact that charities can bring on a human level, particularly in people’s time of urgent need. LincsLSAR is a great team and the work they do is not widely known. I came across them by accident through an old contact and was impressed by what they do.”
Jack is currently helping with fundraising to build operational capabilities while also training as a search technician. LincsLSAR is currently building additional search capability which requires funding but it also needs to cover increasing annual operational costs.
“I have only been involved in a few active searches so far but look forward to more involvement as I have recently (semi-)retired. It’s a cliché, but the ability to give something back in a meaningful way is rewarding and I am inspired by the dedication of the LincsLSAR team, who are on call 24/7, 365 days a year.”
Training as a search technician takes approximately six months involving search techniques, first aid, map reading, radio operation, search planning and training in challenging environments. There are also additional operational roles once qualified, but LincsLSAR members also assist with non-operational roles.
More information on volunteering can be found at www.lincslsar.org/join-the-team
Featured in:
November 2025
TV programmes featuring rescues of people in peril focus on UK organisations such as the police, RNLI and mountain rescue teams. Locally, we have Lincolnshire Lowland Search and Rescue (LincsLSAR) who work in partnership with them to bring local missing people home.
Hill to high water
LincsLSAR was established as a non-profit organisation in 2015 and relies on volunteers, membership subscriptions and its own fundraising to run its operations. With no government funding to carry out the work and annual costs of approx. £11,000 LincsLSAR is a highly effective, cost-efficient team of specially trained men and women who give their time unpaid to bring vulnerable, missing adults and children home.
The team are part of the UK Search and Rescue Operations Group alongside RNLI, Coast Guard, Mountain Rescue and Cave Rescue and is one of approximately 35 rescue groups nationally. Their remit is to assist in searches from ‘hill to high water’, which are the predominant features of the Lincolnshire landscape.
The group is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year ready to be called upon by Lincolnshire or Humberside Police but also neighbouring counties’ police forces. LincsLSAR also assists Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service and works alongside the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum (LRF) during major incidents.
Dedicated volunteers
LincsLSAR’s professionally trained volunteers are dedicated to assisting in searches for missing and vulnerable people (mispers). Vulnerable is defined as a missing child, a person with dementia, mental health issues, a person with autism, or a suicidal or despondent person. On average the group is called out once a week and is committed to bringing the person home.
Volunteers come from all walks of life and include those with a military, emergency service or police background, but all are ‘outdoor’ people. While there are approximately 40 volunteers in the group at present, the current management team, led by chairman Glenn Smith, which has been in place for the last three and a half years, are keen to continue to raise the profile of the group and expand their capabilities.
“We require a minimum of four people on each call-out,” explained Glenn. “We are often given only short notice to assist and we need to put together a team who can liaise with all emergency services attending to formulate a search plan. Call-outs can last from a few hours to a few days and more than one search may be ongoing at times. Volunteers need to have skills in a number of key areas such as search techniques, navigation, first aid and safeguarding.”
Resources
The group has expanded its resources considerably over the past five years thanks to the team of fundraisers who work to bring in grants and money to support the members and their work.
Three support vehicles are part of the assets. The incident control vehicle is the hub of any call-out, giving the team a place to co-ordinate, plan and access welfare facilities themselves but teams trained to engage search dogs, thermal imaging drones, a bank search kayak and handheld thermal imaging camera are in place.
National accreditation
This August LincsLSAR passed the Lowland Rescue Full Operational Assessment, demonstrating specialist search techniques and knowledge, as well as pre-hospital care and casualty evacuation. The team was highly scrutinised over all aspects of search operations from planning, to search, and team management, as well as more obscure requirements of an operational team like policy, operating procedures, active Memorandum of Understanding, and relationships with tasking authorities (primarily Police), insurances, and much more.
“For a bunch of volunteers with a passion for bringing the vulnerable missing home, this has been a huge undertaking in such a short period of time,” said Glenn.
“Beyond all the planning, training, and other work the team does, this year alone we’ve had 34 deployments so far!
“We are now looking to the future, expanding our capabilities and continuing to work alongside Lincolnshire Police and Humberside Police to bring the vulnerable missing home.”
How to give your help
Donations form a vital source of income for LincsLSAR. If you would like to support their work into the future, please visit LincsLSAR.org/support
To find out more about the organisation and if you are interested in becoming a volunteer visit www.lincslsar.org
We Recommend
Never miss a copy!
Big savings when you take out a subscription.
Lincolnshire Life Magazine Newsletter 12/25 - mailchi.mp/lincolnshirelife.co.uk/lincolnshire-life-magazine-newsletter-12-25