The art of searching for missing persons is primarily one of finding clues, evaluating their importance, and taking the proper action based on clue importance.

If you, as the primary searchers, are not able to recognize and identify clues, the success of the search will become a matter of luck, either good or bad.

There are some general principle that can be applied to clue awareness:

• Clue seeking begins with the preplanning of searches, and ends with the final critique of the search.
• The only way to become clue aware is to train and practice. This is one of the primary skills that good searchers attain after training and experience.
• All clues should have equal weight until they can be positively identified and evaluated. Do not form opinions about the search, and then look for clues to support your opinions.
• There is only one missing person, but numerous clues. Looking for the person gives us only one chance of success, while looking clues can give hundreds of chances.

The following are some examples of various clue types. Think of others that you can add to this list.

• Physical: Footprints, candy wrappers, cigarette butts.
• Recorded: Trail logs, notes, telephone messages.
• People: Reporting party, friends, eyewitnesses.
• Event: Smoke, lights, sound.

Assuming the search area contains the missing person, all the clues needed to locate him or her are also in the search area. Most unsuccessful searches are the result of clues going unnoticed or unreported.

Different resources usually have different abilities to detect clues. Area searchers, including trackers, dogs, and hasty teams are generally the most successful in locating clues. Aircraft and grid searchers are usually only good for locating subjects. Grid searching is usually used only as a last resort, since the nature of grid searching will destroy all clues in an area.

The first, and most important, step in looking for clues is not to destroy them. Some clue preservation methods include:

• Don't walk or drive down the middle of a dirt trail or road. A person on foot is also likely to walk in the middle, and you will destroy his tracks. Make a habit of walking on the sides of trails and roads.
• Once you have located and reported a clue, protect the scene. Use flagging tape to mark off the area so searchers coming after you will not destroy the clue. Make certain you have marked the clue location properly on your map so it can be found at a later time.

Sign cutting is the most efficient way of locating clues quickly. It is also one of the most difficult skills to learn. A basic description of sign cutting is the process of looking for clues a person passed through an area by cutting across his presumed or know direction of travel at right angles.

Cutting for sign means a detailed examination of the area that crosses the subjects line of travel. The ground must be thoroughly gone over for tracks, disturbance, or discarded items. If this is done by all teams, you will eventually have cut for sign around the entire circumference of the search area. This should yield clues about the location of the subject. If no clues are found, this may indicate the subject is not in the search area, and the search area should be changed or expanded.

Although sign cutting has some limitations in terms of thoroughness, the speed with which it can be done more than offsets this limitation. In most cases, time is a critical factor in locating the missing person. It is better to locate a portion of the clues that may lead to the missing person quickly than to spend all your time trying to find every clue in the search area.

It is important to remember that every person, even one that does not want to found, is a clue generator. This is particularly true for tracks. Your ability to locate and identify these clues will directly affect the outcome of the search.

Everywhere that you travel during your search assignments you must be looking for clues. Search managers depend on clues to give us a direction of travel.

A good habit to get into when at a search is to always travel so that you will not destroy clues. Some clue preservation methods include:

• DO NOT walk or ride(mountain bike or horse) down the middle of a dirt trail. A person on foot is also likely to walk in the middle, and you will destroy tracks. Travel on the sides of trails and roads.
• Before you drive/ride on dirt roadways, get out and "cut for sign".
• Once you have located and reported a clue, protect the scene. Use flagging tape to mark off the area so searchers coming after you will not destroy the clue. Make certain you have marked the clue location properly on your map so it can be found later. B. Sign cutting is an effective way of locating clues quickly. It is also one of the more difficult of "tracking skills" to master.

Sign cutting is the process of looking for clues of a person that has passed through an area by cutting across the presumed or known direction of travel at right angles.

"Perimeter cutting" is a detailed examination of an area that encompasses 360* around the PLS so that we are assured that we've crossed the subject's line of travel. The ground must be thoroughly gone over for tracks, disturbance, or discarded items. The perimeter line is drawn far away from the normal disturbance that a PLS normally enjoys and we follow "natural track traps". Area perimeter cutting can be used to quickly rule out large search areas. Follow natural track traps around a search area, cutting for sign around the entire circumference of the search area. This should yield clues about the location of the subject or if no clues are found, this may indicate the subject is not in the search area, and the search area should be changed or expanded.

Although sign cutting has some limitations with thoroughness, the speed with which it can be done more than offsets this limitation. In most cases, time is a critical factor in locating the missing person alive. It is better to locate a portion of the clues that may lead to the missing person quickly than to spend all your time trying to find every clue in the search area.

It is important to remember that every person, even one that does not want to be found, is a clue generator. This is particularly true for tracks. Your ability to locate and identify these clues will directly affect the outcome of the search.

Vision - Seeing VS. Looking

• We look at things daily without "SEEING." Our culture (no eye contact) and our environment (too much visual material) has created this.
• We must now re-teach ourselves to SEE.
• Ground searchers need to see visual cues rather than actual tracks or prints.
• Keep an open mind and see everything that is available. From there, bits of information can be objectively disposed of, rather than unintentionally ignored.
• Go SLOWLY!!! ---Focusing for long periods at the dirt can bring on fatigue, reducing your effectiveness. Take breaks and exercise your eyes by changing your focus to something far away for a while.

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