A woman was reported missing by her husband after she failed to attend an appointment with her psychiatric nurse. The man told the call handler that his wife had threatened to commit suicide previously by jumping into a nearby lake.

The man informed officers that he had searched the area around the lake and other locations. When the officer returned to the station he added an entry to COMPACT to say that these locations had been searched but did not say it was by the family, nor did he revisit these locations to confirm that the woman was not there.

The force’s land search manager was consulted and advised that the most common method of suicide by females of the woman’s age was by drowning or overdose, and he started to search for bodies of water nearby.

The woman’s body was found in the lake by dog walkers the next day.

Key questions for policy makers/managers:

• Do you advise your staff to recheck areas even where friends or relatives of the missing person claim to have searched them already?
• Do you and officers under your command understand the importance of re-searching areas previously searched when looking for a missing person due to the likelihood that they may return to an area already searched?

Click here for a link to the full learning report