A local politician says communication with the public could be better after some statements he made during a public meeting turned out to be inaccurate.
A local politician says communication with the public could be better after some statements he made during a public meeting turned out to be inaccurate.
In last week’ s policy and priorities committee meeting, councillor John Nowak said he was surprised there weren’ t more agencies involved in a recent search for a local disabled man who was reported missing on Aug. 29 and found safely after midnight that night.
At the meeting, Nowak said he was concerned that the RCMP and a great many community members, himself included, were searching-but not the local fire department or Little Divide Search and Rescue.
“I’ m wondering where the breakdown in our system was,” said Nowak.
The RCMP, however, says Little Divide and the police force’ s own search and rescue coordinator were involved in the search effort.
RCMP Sgt. Henry Van Dorland says that, between volunteer search and rescue personnel and police officers, there were around 15 people dedicated to finding the man, not counting the numerous family and community members who also went looking for him.
“That’ s a surprise to me,” Nowak said when told by the POST that trained search teams were involved.
The search generated a lot of social media traffic, which Nowak says he kept an eye on, but whether or not official search and rescue operations were underway wasn’ t clear to him.
Nowak acknowledges that his comments during council proceedings weren’ t entirely accurate, but he says there could have been more clarity about how the search was handled, especially with social media playing such a large role.
“Nobody was aware that search and rescue had been involved, but I am glad and thankful that that is the case,” he said. “I’ m not putting it on the RCMP, but when something like this happens, there needs to be more communication with the public.”
Many community members went searching for the missing man, multiple sclerosis patient Jim Elliott, but it wasn’ t a coordinated response, Nowak says. For future emergencies, he’ d like to see that change.
“I think our emergency preparedness could be a lot better,” he said.
Elliott’ s family have sent out public thank-you messages to all of the people who helped in the search.
