Information Gathering
When a crisis situation is suspected or has been confirmed one of the first things that can be done to assist with future efforts toward team member care and recovery is the documentation of events and the gathering of information. These details can be lost or skewed over even short periods of time due to emotions and information overload. The Field Leader should assign a team member to begin documenting detailed information regarding the incident, secure the location, and start an investigation to include, but not limited to:
- Securing the Area. Many crisis situations involve criminal activity and one of the first steps to be taken will be to secure the area accordingly. Often clues are left behind that trained personnel can utilize to assist in recovery efforts. However, great care should be given to avoiding crime scene contamination.
- Establish a Starting Point. When the location of Reliant team members is in question, identify the last known location of the victims and establish a time frame for when they were noted as missing. Confirm their routes of travel leading up to the incident and locations they might have visited en route.
- Start Documentation. Establish how you discovered that they were missing: were they involved in an accident, critical incident, or abducted? Take names of witnesses and record, on video preferably, each person’s observations. Team members completing this task should help document their findings with Reliant which should include, but not be limited to:
- Time of day and location
- Description of what happened
- Number and description of people involved:
- Male or female
- Approximate age
- Clothing description
- Identifying marks (beard, scars, hair style/color, tattoos, etc.)
- Visible weapons (long guns, hand guns, knives, machetes, etc.)
- Vehicle description
- Make, year, model, color, style, license plate (Number/State/Country)
- Distinctive markings
- Direction of travel
- Anything not previously asked
