Thousands of people go missing every year in Russia. We do not provide exact figures, because volunteer organizations do not agree with the statistics (more than 3,000 children in the first six months of 2018, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs). With the help of volunteers, several thousand of the missing people were found last year, and this year the National Monitoring Center for Assistance to Missing and Injured Children opened 20 branches around the country.
But the work of volunteers, with all the nobility of impulse and a great desire to help, remains at an amateur level. Federal news agency talks about the author's unique training program for volunteers to help missing children, which was developed at the Russian University of Special Forces.
“There are many in Russia now who are ready for a charitable deed,” one of the authors of the methodology says to FAN. Vladimir Satsenko, senior instructor RUS. - Missing children, tourists, climbers - people want to help them.
And then we see such stories: after an accident on the road, "rescuers" begin to drag the wounded man back and forth and cause him more harm than he would have received after a collision. People are ready to help, but they do not have special knowledge. The work is not really organized, everything is done by trial and error, there are conflicts with the authorities.
For employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, volunteers turn out to be a headache: one person was lost, and ten people went to look for him - and now they also need to be monitored. There are plenty of cases when people were looking for someone and died themselves. In any business, professionalism is needed, and volunteer centers, in terms of organization, are mostly arranged at an amateur level.”
The Russian military offered to take the experience of spetsnaz intelligence for peaceful purposes and created the world's first full-fledged training program for search volunteers. The principles, methodology, tactics, safety precautions are the same, with the difference that the special forces were looking for missiles, warehouses and bases, and the volunteers will have to look for people - quickly and as efficiently as possible, because they need to be found alive.
The first training of volunteers at the base Russian University special forces took place in Chechnya in August-September of this year, volunteers from different regions of Russia came to the training. But before that, senior RUS instructors traveled around the country to evaluate the work of volunteers in their regional centers.
“We watched their actions on the call,” says Satsenko, “and sometimes it looked extremely unprofessional, sorry. The female operator has four children in search at the same time, constant calls, attempts to perceive information by ear and pass it on to other volunteers, plus it's all on emotions...
We understand that people are rooting for this cause, many even to the detriment of their families. But they need a system in their work, and one with the local authorities and security forces. We began to think about how to integrate volunteers into this system so that their actions help, not harm, and so that they work safely for themselves.”
There are many nuances in the search for missing children. In July 2018, literally the whole world searched for thirteen-year-old Vsevolod in Sochi for ten days: employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the police, the Russian Guard, huntsmen, climbers, the Liza Alert search squad and forensic specialists, a hundred volunteers, united in search work.
The teenager, unfortunately, did not calculate his strength, separated from the tourist group, and died in the mountains. In this story, with almost one hundred percent probability, rescuers of all levels were looking for a child lost in nature.
In the same place in Sochi, in March of this year, policemen, rescuers, Cossacks and volunteers were looking for a five-year-old girl according to her stepfather's statement about the loss. A few days later it turned out that the man himself had killed his stepdaughter, reported to the police and fled. This case is a case search of a completely different kind, and it is not easy to say how volunteers, police and investigators should work together so as not to interfere with each other.
In the RUS methodology, the military offers volunteers to cooperate with city authorities and law enforcement agencies on a contractual basis in order to receive timely reports, operational information, and warnings about non-disclosure of certain data during searches. It seems that this is a mutual desire, because the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has already entered into agreements on joint work with volunteer organizations to search for missing people in every second Russian region.
“We offer volunteers to create a structure with an organization similar to the military,” says the senior instructor at RUS.
There should be areas of responsibility: a duty officer, an analyst with statistics, mobile teams. The call should be processed as in the rescue services, and the information should be passed on along the chain without an emotional touch, in the form of a dry squeeze. The area should be well known to the volunteers: in what area are crime accumulations observed, where are dangerous facilities located, where can a child run away or be taken away?
While studying in Chechnya, many volunteers discovered that they were completely unable to navigate and were able to get lost themselves in the process of searching. The senior instructors devoted several days to classical terrain orientation, working with topographic maps of the General Staff with a coordinate grid and transferring this knowledge to more familiar gps navigators.
“People seem to be ready to help, but they are afraid of getting lost themselves,” the RUS expert comments. - Some of them do not know their way around the city, and in order to avoid situations “there is only one forest around us, where are we?”, They learned the base of topography from us. Mass mopping rarely brings results: it helps more when everyone takes responsibility for their own piece of territory and explores it. But in this case, a person must be sure that he himself will not get lost.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region since August 1, looking for the missing 13-year-old Masha Lozhkareva, and volunteers have already visited dozens of places: they combed the forest, descended into wells and sewers, drained reservoirs and ponds, examined dilapidated buildings and unfinished buildings. In search of the girl, volunteers at dangerous sites also keep an eye on each other.
“Our business is to accumulate military experience,” says the RUS instructor. All my life I've been looking for ways to prevent trouble. If the methodology of the National Guard or the experience of surgeons in the war can be applied in road accidents or search operations, they should work for civilians.”
If you managed to find a person alive, problem number two is to provide him with first aid. According to the FAN expert, inexperienced rescuers have two extremes: the desire to “inject at least something just in case” and inaction. Special forces teach volunteers to act. Collect a suitable first aid kit with modern drugs without grandmother's funds. Accurately assess the condition of the victim. Know what is forbidden to do and what cannot be delayed.
“Working on a voluntary basis is, as a rule, a state of “needless erratic”. There is a car, a phone - it's already good. But if there is a connection with the main center, with local authorities, if you can get money to equip the headquarters, then what to spend it on?
We advise how to competently equip the headquarters and your teams. For example, everyone wants thermal imagers, but the same 3-5-10 million rubles can be spent much more efficiently. Or it is enough to supplement the quadcopter with a large screen in the kit and this will add chances for saving a person,” says Satsenko.
Interestingly, in the Chechen Republic, where Russian volunteers are being trained, the help of search engines is practically not needed - there are no cases of missing children. But during the training, the presence of volunteers was required in neighboring Dagestan. Throughout August, the republic was looking for a kidnapped eight-year-old Kalimat Omarov. Later, when the girl was found dead, the media pointed to the unprofessionalism of local amateur searchers.
“On the very first day, dozens of volunteers gathered in groups and began combing the city. The next day there were hundreds of them, the media wrote. - But the problem is that no one has ever looked for people professionally. And the police did not consider it necessary to instruct those who volunteered to quickly look for the child.
The lack of professionalism, recommendations and the ban on large-scale inspections by the police nullified the entire mass search. The situation was slightly corrected by Liza Alert volunteers, who have experience in searching for people. But they joined too late, having no office in Dagestan.”
The State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption of the FAN commented on the integration of the volunteer movement into legislation.
“This direction is relatively young for us, but the legislation in this area is not worth it, it is developing,” said the deputy chairman of the Duma Committee Anatoly Vyborny. “How it changes further will depend on law enforcement practice and the need for change.”
The politician recalled that in February of this year, separate changes to the federal law provided volunteers with social and legal guarantees and state support: reimbursement for food, uniforms and special equipment, equipment, rent of premises for work, travel expenses, life and health insurance.
“In the first half of 2018 alone, 18,000 people went missing, including 3,000 children. Thanks to volunteers, 1,300 people were found, half of them are children, - Anatoly Vyborny cites statistics. - Of course, these figures alone are impressive.
There is no doubt that the issue of supporting volunteering is very relevant. Our legislation provides for the participation of citizens in the work of search and investigation public services and everything is moving towards developing such cooperation further. The law on preferences for volunteers is a vivid confirmation that parliamentarians are not indifferent to this topic.
Personally, I think that those who are thinking about a career in government should go through public, including volunteer, organizations. Such people should be given preferences when entering the relevant university and when they are appointed to a position.”
As it became known to the FAN, the deputy of the State Duma took up the problem of finding lost people in Russia Nikolai Buduev. True, his initiative does not concern missing children, but tourists who wander in the mountains and forests of a vast country while traveling along extreme routes.
The Siberian Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations calculated that every year only in Siberia, rescuers conduct 200 search operations. Just offhand, rescuing poorly trained or unjustifiably risky people costs about 15.5 million rubles (and this is only the cost of using the Mi-8 rescue helicopter).
Until December, the State Duma will collect information on cases of missing tourists in Russia and search operations. At the beginning of next year, at the round table of the committee on physical education, sports, tourism and youth affairs, they will discuss what to do with frivolous adventurers and whether it is worth introducing responsibility for the level of preparedness of the tourist and violation of personal safety rules in dangerous corners of nature - all in order to make the news about missing people in Russia more often began with the words “Found. Alive"
“A 12-year-old boy disappeared…”, “A girl left home and did not return, her eyes are blue, her hair is blond…”, “A man is missing…”. Such announcements about the loss of people are full of pages of printed publications and Internet resources. Who is involved in the search The police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and volunteers, such as representatives of the organization "Liza Alert". Why is it called the search squad and what does it do? This will be discussed below.
Who is looking for missing people?
The statistics are harsh and inexorable, and it shows that every half an hour in Russia up to two hundred thousand applications from relatives searching for their missing loved ones are received at the police departments every year. The vast majority of these appeals are processed promptly, and people are located and returned to their families. Police officers, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and more recently, volunteers of the Lisa Alert search squad are involved in the search. The life of the missing people depends on the coherence of the work of each member of the team and the efficiency of actions. Caring people form the backbone of the Liza Alert search squad. Why is it called that?
Liza - a girl who did not have time to help
The history of the detachment began in 2010. This summer, the boy Sasha and his mother disappeared. Volunteers came out to search, and the child was found alive and well. And in September, a girl, Liza Fomkina, from Orekhovo-Zuevo, went missing with her aunt and got lost. In the case of Lisa, the search was not started immediately, precious time was lost. Volunteers joined the search only on the fifth day after the disappearance of the child. 300 people were looking for her, who sincerely worried about the fate of a little unfamiliar girl. She was found 10 days after she went missing. Unfortunately, help came too late. A 5-year-old girl survived in the forest without food and water for nine days, but did not wait for her saviors.
Volunteers who participated in the search on September 24, 2010 were shocked to the core by what happened. On the same day, they organized a volunteer search squad "Lisa Alert". Why it is called so, every participant in this movement knows.
Alert means search
The name of the little heroic girl Liza has become a symbol of human participation and complicity. The word "alert" in translation from English means "search".
In the United States, since the mid-1990s, the Amber Alert system has been operating, thanks to which data on each missing child is put on the scoreboard in in public places, on the radio, in newspapers, appear on the Internet. In our country, unfortunately, there is no such system yet. Employees of the Liza Alert search squad are trying on their own to introduce, if not an analogue of such a system in Russia, then at least make information about someone else's misfortune available. Indeed, in the case when people disappear, and especially children, every minute counts.
Who are the members of the search party?
Why the squad is called "Lisa Alert", you now know. Let's talk about its composition.
The detachment from Moscow, the first in this truly all-Russian movement, is the largest and most active. To date, divisions with a different number of participants have been formed in forty regions of the country.
There is no single control center here, each department operates independently. But there is a constant connection between them, which is carried out as a result of the training of new employees, the exchange of experience and information. The organization does not have settlement accounts, all activities are carried out on a voluntary basis. Volunteers are provided with the necessary equipment, means of communication and transport during the search work. During long searches, the participants of the rescue operation are provided with food.
Search engines do not charge money for their services. Those who want to help can sign up for a detachment, provide assistance with technical means or other feasible support. And each participant knows why the group is called "Lisa Alert", and is afraid of not being able to meet those who are in trouble.
How is the search going?
Representatives of the detachment seek to inform people about what to do if a person is missing. The fate of the lost people depends on the clear and timely actions of the relatives who applied. According to statistics, when contacting on the first day, 98% of the lost are found, on the second day - 85%, when contacting on the third day, the percentage of a happy outcome decreases to 60%. And later, the chances of finding a missing person alive, especially a child, are practically reduced to zero.
In the case of Liza Fomkina, active searches began only on the fifth day, which led to a tragedy that shocked the volunteers. That is why the search party is called "Lisa Alert" - it is not only a tribute to memory, but also an eternal reminder that someone in this moment waiting for help.
Interaction with government agencies
Representatives of the search engines over the years of the detachment's existence have established contact with the police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. After all, the main task of finding missing people lies with the authorities. But what can one district inspector do if a person is lost in the forest? given the scope of the search.
The Lisa Alert search party comes to the rescue. Volunteers create mobile search groups, draw up an action plan, collect information about the missing person, where and when he was last seen. Every little thing can be the key to a happy ending.
Where does the search begin?
There is a hotline in the search squad. A single number valid throughout the country. For those who have lost their loved ones, but hope to find them, sometimes he becomes the only thread to salvation. The operator takes the call, but the volunteers don't act without a missing person's report being filed with the police. It is not uncommon for hooligans to call and tell the tragic story of a missing person. If there is a statement to the police, representatives of the search squad enter the case, deploying organized and well-coordinated activities, not forgetting for a minute why it is called “Liza Alert”.
Operation "Search"
Each member of the detachment is given his place and his role in the operation. At the main headquarters, they operate remotely, collecting information bit by bit, distributing it in the media, on the Internet, posting ads, and compiling a map of the search area.
An operational headquarters is deployed directly on the spot. In it, the coordinator determines the search and rescue plan, a detailed map of the area is drawn up with the definition of search squares for each member of the group. Here, the radio operator provides communication with each participant, so that in case of detection, the rest of the participants in the search can come to the rescue immediately. During a long search, the support group arranges for the supply of food, water and other necessary materials so that the search continues without stopping.
Teams of volunteers trained to navigate rough terrain work directly in the search area. Beginners are always put next to experienced search engines. If necessary, helicopters of the aviation group will take to the skies to provide aerial reconnaissance. If the search area is far away, then the groups can be delivered by all-terrain vehicles. As part of the search engines there are cynologists with dogs who help to find lost people. If the tragedy occurred near a reservoir, divers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations inspect the water area. All these forces are involved, depending on the complexity of the search, in order to have time to come to the rescue and not repeat the situation that happened many years ago, and remind yourself why it is called “Lisa Alert”.
Who can become a squad member?
The ranks of the search detachment "Liza Alert" are open to everyone. Everyone can provide all possible assistance. Students, retirees, accountants, housewives, athletes or freelancers can all become members of the Volunteer Squad. Anyone who has reached the age of majority can become a volunteer. Those who are still in school can help spread and search for information on the Internet, but do not participate in active searches.
Why the Lisa Alert search squad is called that, we have already explained to you. Volunteers are taught first aid techniques, taught how to work with navigators, a compass, a radio station, and the basics of cartography. So that each volunteer can provide the necessary assistance to the victim and notify other team members of the find.
Search engines keep up with the times
The Lisa Alert search team has its own hotline number, the same throughout Russia. In each phone, these treasured numbers must be memorized. After all, in the case when a person is lost, there is not a minute to lose. The operator will instruct the applicant about the algorithm of actions.
Also on the official website of "Lisa Alert" you can find a search form, by filling out which, each applicant can be sure that this information will be seen in different parts of the country.
Now "Liza Alert" has also got mobile app. Anyone can download it to a smartphone. It's more of an app to notify volunteers that a person is missing in a particular region. It helps to quickly assemble rapid response teams.
Forewarned is forearmed
Members of the group are active preventive measures aimed at reducing the number of disappearances. Simple Rules Sometimes they help save someone's life. Also, the staff of the Lisa Alert detachment (why they called it that, many think) developed clear algorithms for how to act during search operations in the forest, on a reservoir, in the city and in other conditions.
Despite all efforts, in Russia between 15,000 and 30,000 children go missing every year. Every tenth of them - forever. That's why "Lisa Alert" is called that, and the victory of these people is someone's life saved!
GPS trackers, notes and love
How it works: searching for missing people
5 Mar 2020
4950
"Attention! A man is gone! We ask for help in disseminating information” – sometimes we help search operations by reposting, but in Russia there are hundreds of people for whom this is a job. On the example of PSO "Lisa Alert" we will tell you how the search for missing people works. For help in preparing this material, we thank Stanislav Kovalev, the head of the Sverdlovsk detachment.
Where did it all begin?
In addition to state structures such as the police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the search for the lost is carried out by volunteers: for example, the history of the volunteer movement "Lisa Alert" began in 2010 with the initiative of caring people. Five-year-old Liza Fomkina and her aunt disappeared in Orekhovo-Zuyevo. The girl was found dead on the tenth day - she died the day before from hypothermia. There was a chance to save the child if the search operations had begun the day before. With this tragic story, active volunteer work began to search for missing people in Russia, and the volunteer movement was named after Liza Fomkina.
In Yekaterinburg, the Liza Alert search and rescue team is headed by Stanislav Kovalev from Moscow. During the day, he is the deputy director of one of the construction companies in the city, and on weekends, in the evening and at night, he is a volunteer.
“The Sverdlovsk detachment has existed for four years,” says Stanislav. - The search for children and the elderly has been and remains a priority for us. We are looking for adults as far as possible.”
"We are looking for, but not all"
The “hottest” time for Liza Alert is summer: the time when children have holidays and are left to themselves, and adults go to the forest for mushrooms or berries and get lost. In spring and autumn, during periods of exacerbation of mental illness, old people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia most often disappear: older people, going out on a bench to sit at the entrance, simply forget where they leave. In winter, mostly adults disappear, which most often disappear of their own accord.
“As soon as we find out that a person left voluntarily, to live for some time in a monastery, for example, we stop any activities, because an adult sane person made a conscious choice to leave. We are looking for children a lot and always,” says Stanislav.
In June and July of this year, volunteers of the Sverdlovsk region received 91 search requests, incl. and 17 children. Found alive - 64 people, including 14 minors, dead - 11 adults and 2 children, the remaining 14 and another 15 people declared missing earlier are still not found.
What loved ones of lost people do wrong
One of the main mistakes that can cause irreparable grief is the attempts of relatives to search for the missing on their own, without involving the police and volunteers. Stanislav notes that in any event, not only every day, but every hour and minute is expensive: “If a search request is received on the first day, the probability of finding a person is 99%: at this time it is still possible to interview random witnesses, look at surveillance cameras, which are installed in public places and determine the route of the lost. With each subsequent day, the percentage of successful completion decreases. If more than two weeks have passed since the loss, it makes no sense to go out into the area: it is more difficult to find witnesses, and some camera records are deleted quickly, the missing person himself could have gone very far.”
Many parents, fearing that their family may be registered with the PDN (juvenile affairs unit), do not file applications for a lost child with law enforcement agencies. In cases of disappearances of adults, relatives hesitate to notify the police because of a long-established false belief: it is necessary to notify the authorities after three days have passed since the loss of communication, and even in the police you can often stumble upon the answer: “He walks up and he will come.”
“This phrase about three days was first heard in the film “Experts are investigating” and since then it has been firmly planted in people’s heads. In fact, according to the law, the police must immediately respond to a statement by calling or writing. Parents have the right to sound the alarm even if their child is delayed somewhere for five minutes.
It also happens that volunteers are the first to find out about the missing. They promptly gather groups for searches, print orientations and go to the place, at the same time persuading relatives to apply to law enforcement agencies with a statement. When a well-coordinated team of professionals from different organizations operates - the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, BRNS (Accident Registration Bureau) there are great chances to find a lost person.
“We have agreements on interaction with all state structures. We inform them when we receive any information about the lost, and they often turn to us for help,” says Stanislav.
How is the search structured?
The work of "Lisa Alert" is organized, each of the volunteers has their own area of responsibility, but in each case the tactics change: there is no one universal formula. Typically, the search begins with calls received on a single "hot" line of the detachment or on the website of the initiative, the operator sends it to the appropriate region. Local informants check the information - they call relatives, the police, hospitals, BRNS, then draw up an orientation and, if necessary, distribute it through the media and social networks, pass it on to truckers and colleagues in other regions and countries. Cartographers outline the territory of the proposed search; signalmen organize the smooth operation of radios; coordinators interact with participants and supervise. Volunteers post orientations, interview witnesses, and look for people in any area except water. At the same time, 40-50 people respond to the operational combing of the area. There are also prevention instructors who give lectures for children and parents in schools in the Sverdlovsk region and distribute “Child Personal Cards”. It happens that parents, being in shock, cannot remember any special features of their son or daughter - a mole, a scar, eye color, then a card comes to the rescue, where all the child's data is entered in advance - in case of loss, it will help to quickly compile orientation.
“The detachment has several technologies for search activities. If, for example, a grandmother with Alzheimer's is lost, we, when interviewing relatives, find out her former place of residence. So, one old woman disappeared in Yekaterinburg, and they found her at the entrance of a factory in Nizhny Tagil, where she worked all her life; I forgot what happened to her for the last 30 years, but she remembers her youth and came to the plant with full confidence that she still works there. In cases of missing teenagers, it is important to find out whether it is a “runner” (i.e. a child who has left home or a state institution more than once) or not. A teenager who left after some kind of conflict ran away on purpose. In no case should you print orientation sheets for such a missing person and distribute them around the city or in social networks, otherwise the teenager may leave for another region and the search will become more complicated. The only way to help here is by interviewing friends and witnesses.”
Why are the kids running away?
Contrary to the stereotype, children run away not only from dysfunctional families and orphanages - often teenagers also leave wealthy parents. There are many reasons, in particular - lack of understanding on the part of adults, conflicts with relatives and friends - parents most often try to hide such details from the police and volunteers: it may seem to them that this is an idle interest that is not relevant to the case. In fact, it is often these details that help to properly organize the search for a missing child.
Banal ignorance about the life, plans and dreams of a son or daughter is also one of the factors of loss. One runaway 10-year-old boy wanted to become a traveler, so he left home. Even computer games can be the reason for the escape: it happens that children are found in Internet clubs, where, unlike at home, they are not forbidden to play shooting games. But when misfortune happens, parents actively help in search activities.
Relatives are looking for loved ones
“Parents and relatives are most often with us at the search site and help, attracting a larger number of volunteers from among friends, they themselves actively participate. But there are also tantrums among relatives, our inforgs are trained in some methods of providing psychological assistance, ”says Stanislav.
One of the first relatives to learn and information about the results of actions. The worst thing is to hear “Found. Died”: such words relatives have to report to the police. Hope and faith in a favorable outcome are inspired by “Not found” and “Found. Alive." Undoubtedly, participation in search activities requires strong nerves - you never know what the next search will be crowned with.
“Experienced volunteers, like police officers, develop a certain hardness and information about the dead is not perceived as close to heart as newcomers,” explains the head of the Sverdlovsk detachment.
According to Stanislav, he often remembers those searches in which he himself found someone:
“I was on my way to look for a nine-year-old girl who had been missing for three days, and I stopped at one of the stores to buy water. At the checkout in the supermarket I look: this girl is standing, the photo that I just saw. It turns out that with the same 10-year-old guys, she collected scrap metal for all three days and handed it over. I also remember the story of how one man climbed a tree out of fear, and after being rescued, he could not speak for some time.
"We don't need money"
"Liza Alert" is an independent free volunteer initiative and local and federal media easily cooperate with it, cellular operators and even airlines. Relatives often offer the detachment money as a thank you.
“Reports about raising money for our needs are a hoax. If someone wants to help us, then the list of necessary materials for the search work is posted on our official resources. We will be happy to accept everything except money: compasses, navigators, flashlights, paper and printer cartridges, batteries, accumulators. Each volunteer buys or orders equipment or paraphernalia with the logo of the detachment.”
Stanislav dreams that someday his squad will simply have no work left to search for the missing, so that no one will ever get lost again.
“There can be only one advice for parents: love your child, establish friendly relations with him, and for elderly relatives you need an eye and an eye. Be sure to put notes in all the pockets of their clothes with your contacts. Also today you can buy all kinds of GPS trackers and "beacons", with their help to track the movement of a relative - when it comes to security, all means are good. And I would like to advise the foresters: do not wear camouflage in the forest.
P.S. While you were reading this material, three children disappeared somewhere in Russia, one of them may never be found.
Volunteers of the search and rescue squad "Lisa Alert" helped to find alive more than 20 thousand people in seven years. Even more could have been saved if the detachment had been helped by more people. To become a volunteer as easy as possible, Beeline launched a new search. BigPiccha interviewed three mailing list volunteers about their first experience helping the squad.
Alexander Ovchinnikov: “I used to look for the dead, but now I’m looking for the living”
I signed up for the newsletter about a month ago. The first time I received an SMS that a woman was missing near my dacha, but I had already left there. And the second time a person disappeared on the street next to me, already in the city, and I decided to go. But in general, he signed up for searches throughout Moscow, so it was a coincidence. Previously, he was looking for those who died during the Second World War in different regions of Russia, but now he decided to participate in the search for living people.
How was the search?
There were several carriages in cars, we were given a plan of places where my grandmother could go: the Izmailovo Church, a store next to the house. Her son said that he did not find the keys to the dacha at home, but she could hardly go there: she has Alzheimer's disease, and he has been taking her to the dacha himself for a long time.
Did volunteers also work at the dacha?
No, the coordinators called the watchman and found out she wasn't there.
Did the real search differ from your ideas about it?
No, it didn’t differ, I had previously watched a video from the search for “Lisa Alert” on YouTube, went to a training event at the Beeline office where I work, it was interesting to watch. They told how to protect the child from loss.
Have you told your children?
My child is still small, he is five years old, but there was information on how, for example, to collect children in the forest. It is forbidden to dress in green or brown, because a volunteer can walk a few meters from a lost person and not notice him. Then, if a person goes to the forest, he must have some kind of Snickers with him.
If a person is missing, you do not need to call him, you are unlikely to be able to help him. You ask: "Where are you?", he will say: "I'm in the forest." Well, that's it, you can't do anything about it. Therefore, you need to call not him, but the police, the Ministry of Emergencies. It is believed that a statement about the loss of a person is accepted within three days. This is a big misconception: the police in Russia are obliged to accept the application on the first day.
Are you still going to search?
I'll try, it depends on the time and how close it is to me. I think so, it's interesting.
Have you told your friends about them?
Of course, family, relatives, relatives. Shared photos on Facebook. Basically they wrote: “Well done, great”, but perhaps someone wants to come. I drew some attention to the detachment.
Mikhail Semenov: "I get more than I give"
I probably learned about Lisa Alert from social networks, there were constant reposts with information about the missing. Then I went to the forum and studied the search technique more deeply. As a student, I was engaged in sports tourism, we traveled together to some Kyrgyzstan and rafted along the rivers on catamarans for a month. It was such an experience of communicating with the forest, non-standard situations did not frighten us at all. Therefore, I am familiar with maps, equipment, walking in azimuth and so on.
What role did you choose for yourself in the detachment?
Walking search engine. There are very different professions, and each person can help. This is cartography, mailing lists, reposts, the dialing group is very active and effective: it can find people without going out into the street.
How did you go from reading the forum to actively searching?
I was in the subject, but there was no motive to take action. The motive was the search for Artem Kuznetsov in the Lipetsk region.
Why exactly him?
(Pause.) The child is small, three years old. They came with their father and sister for haymaking. Artyom wanted to play hide and seek, but his sister didn't want to, and he ran away from her. They couldn't find him for a very long time. It was a resonant search, when a lot of people are involved, they use the media. I found out about him through social networks, began to shift it to myself: I have children. I'm talking about it now, and a lump in my throat. It was impossible to pass.
The boy was never found. He spent about four days alone in the forest and eventually died of dehydration.
What are your memories of the search for Artyom, probably it was very difficult emotionally?
Yes, definitely. When there is a long distance to the search area, then people cooperate and ride in a carriage with someone else. We drove there for six hours and another six hours back, and during this time I was given such a course as a young fighter. I got into an interesting crew - with one of the most experienced searchers and with a representative of the PR service of Lisa Alert. We talked about everything: about the specifics of the search, about experience, about different situations. For me, it was such an introductory theoretical course.
We had not reached literally ten minutes when the information about the stop of the search came. It often happens that you do not reach the search and get a hang up. Artem was found dead. First, they found his sandal and the place where he spent the night, and then himself. Cynological dog found, if I'm not mistaken.
Do such stories demotivate or, on the contrary, encourage more participation and involvement of people?
When you talk to people about memorable searches, everyone says: those who we did not find are remembered. The analysis of where the work has not been done begins. This is absolute mathematics, everything can be calculated: on average, a child is within a diameter of five kilometers from the place of loss. This is an area of 20 square kilometers. It takes a lot of people to close them. One team closes such and such territory. That is, we can calculate: with our resources, we could find, but did not find.
At that time, we were very short of people. We drove up and saw that the locals were working in the hayfield. They asked themselves: how can people live, exist, when this happens nearby? Local residents knew about the search, but did not go out, for some reason they thought that it was the father who was guilty and the death was violent. Then they drove the poor father, he answered on a polygraph.
And only when they found the shoes of this child, they began to drive the state employees out in search ... The governor helped us a lot, they additionally provided about four to five hundred policemen and civil servants for the search.
Was it done promptly?
No, unfortunately it took a long time. We did not have time - so it was not prompt. It was already on the fifth day of the search, when the child spent five nights in the forest alone.
How many people did it take to find him?
I can’t say for sure, but offhand in the region of 2000 people.
BigPicchi note. During the search for Artem Kuznetsov, the volunteers were greatly helped by the mobile base station (pictured), which Beeline brought to Lipetsk from Moscow. Thanks to her, it became possible to synchronize maps, coordinate better and work faster, which is very important for searches.
This was my first search, but not the only one. Now I am subscribed to all searches in Moscow and the Moscow region. On the eve of the summer season, when many people get lost in the forest, I participate in the city searches. Everyone can help, it does not have to be a person with sports experience, like me, with equipment, with free time. My last experience was the search for an adult male: 33 years old, disabled, disoriented. He and his father rode bicycles in the Meshchersky park, he got scared of the dog and left in an unknown direction.
They couldn't find him for four days. He could not call for help, and people do not react to such lost ones. They will approach a small child, if the grandmother is sitting alone at the bus stop in the evening, they will also help, but he outwardly looks like an adult man, so he does not attract attention.
Then I worked out the task at the stations. It was necessary to conduct a survey, make a sticker and communicate with the linear police departments in the Belarusian and Kiev directions. The task was to interview, let's say, the residents of the station, visually inspect if there are people who look like the lost one, paste over our stands with orientation papers and ask the police if there were any incidents with similar people in four days on the line of incidents: with men of the same age and, for example, with a bicycle.
I was amazed that in the Kiev direction, all the employees, let's say, "Lisa Alert" are friendly. They immediately said: let's leave the orientation, we will look. The officer on duty at the police department immediately informed all employees of the department by radio that a search was underway, ordered everyone to come to the duty unit, handed out a photo of the missing person, and everyone took a picture of him. It was very prompt and without words at all, on the machine.
My work took two hours, I printed out 20 orientations and pasted them, closed a large part of the search. Even if you walk for several days and do not find a person, this is not a reason to be upset, on the contrary, you should be proud, because you have narrowed the search area. So, it is not here, you need to concentrate on other places. It's about motivation.
I understand that you are easily combining the search with family and work?
Yes, I have two children, my daughter is a year and a half, my son is three and a half, I have a job - I am a sales manager at Beeline. Of course, there is not much time, but to devote two hours after work to a really important matter related to people's lives is not so much.
I know volunteers who go out searching two or three times a month, combining it with work and business. Anyone can help, the more people the better. Someone can print orientations, someone can take them to the headquarters near the metro, someone can take the search engines to the forest or city search in a free car.
One of my motivations is this: now I don’t have the opportunity to fully go hiking. I tried to hunt, but I feel sorry for the animals, and I couldn't. And the search is communication with nature, physical activity and, if this does not sound cynical, also a kind of hunting. Such an unusual hobby. I get more than I give.
Do you encourage family and friends to participate?
Yes, I'm subversive in many places (laughs). Without fanaticism, of course: you cannot force a person. It's just that there are people who can't get past the problem. I analyzed why I was doing this: I can’t get past a crying child if he is alone, I can’t help but carry the bag to the subway. Some people have such upbringing and a sense of responsibility, some do not. Probably, no one can be blamed and reproached. I tell the guys from tourism about the search, and sometimes we go together.
Igor: “Someone has to do it. I should"
I recently found out about Lisa Alert, went to the site and subscribed to the newsletter.
What search have you already been on?
We walked around the city with a friend, I invited him. In St. Petersburg. I don't have any special impressions. Probably, someone has to do it - so I have to do it. My friend, who absolutely agrees with me, did the same. That's the whole principle. From our police, even in 2018, there is no sense.
Do you encourage your relatives and friends to participate in the search?
No, I'm not knocking anyone out, I'm not putting together any team. It's just that if I see among my relatives a person who agrees with me, coincides with me in the vision of this problem, then I will simply offer him, and he will 100% take it and go, as happened with my best friend. I just told him: "Let's go", he agreed, and the time was night. We got into the car and drove off.
Long searched?
(Turning to a friend.) How long did we walk, Ruslan? Four, five o'clock.
Found?
No, the person was not found.
Will you still ride? At night?
It doesn't matter, there will be time - I'll go right away, and that's it. Of course I will. I don’t care where, I have a car - I’ll take it, I’ll go anywhere.
How to become a volunteer
To quickly learn about new searches in your area, subscribe to a free SMS-mailing from Lisa Alert about searches near you. The mailing list is free and available for Beeline, Megafon, MTS and Tele-2 subscribers.
In the search, any help is important: calling hospitals, printing and posting orientation sheets, interviewing witnesses, interacting with relatives and the police, the opportunity to take pedestrians to search or take part in the search operation itself. In the summer there will be a lot of searches, but there are always not enough people. We really care about everyone.
Friends, fellow search engines, media representatives and everyone
who is not indifferent to the problem of missing children!
It is known that many children go missing every year. We will not cite statistics that have set the teeth on edge, which only the lazy did not quote. What is clear is that now there are really huge resources for the operational search for the lost, thanks to several formed search and rescue teams. But these resources have become difficult to use, because the struggle for the right to be considered the “main”, “largest”, “most popular” search detachment in Moscow and the region is already crossing all boundaries. People forget about the goal, joining the struggle for leadership, which discredits the very idea of a volunteer movement to find children. For a long time we did not participate in the general controversy, considering it unworthy and frivolous for adults. But recent events simply force an answer. To begin with, I would like to tell you how it all began ...
And it all started in the forests near Chernogolovka, in June 2010, where many of us ended up by accident. At the autoforum, a call for help in search of a 4-year-old boy was thrown by Yulia (Taiga). The search continued almost around the clock, for 4 days. Then we were lucky and Sasha was found alive. Video: Sasha is sitting in the arms of Alexander Efimov (YoFA), it was he who discovered him. It is also seen how Pavel Filippovich (Pavel, Rasp) contacts the headquarters to report the situation. In total, more than 500 people took part in those searches. It is difficult to imagine the joy of the search engines when this news came, and the feeling with which they returned home. It was then, for the first time, that attempts were made to rally the volunteers into a single detachment, but the idea was unsuccessful.
In September, after the terrible fires burned out, and the dense forest became completely impassable because of the rubble, information came that 5-year-old Liza Fomkina and her aunt had disappeared in Orekhovo-Zuyevo. Active searches began when several days had already passed, but warm weather gave a chance for salvation. Pavel Filippovich (Pavel, Rasp) undertook to coordinate the search. For almost a week, he, along with Maxim (a car forum mate) and Maria (a family friend) coordinated more than 300 volunteers who worked alongside the police and the military. They searched for the girl and aunt all over the city, in the surrounding villages, in abandoned basements and houses, in endless forests and swamps, and even in neighboring cities. The entire Internet was, figuratively speaking, “on the ears”. Little Lisa was discussed on forums and blogs, social networks and psychics.
Communities of all-terrain vehicles, quad bikers, cynologists, a forum of ferret fans and other thematic resources broadcast information about the progress of the search around the clock, helped with notification and attracted the media for this. The goal was one - to notify as many people as possible so that they come in search. Those who searched in Chernogolovka also arrived and, of course, there were many new volunteers - among them Dmitry (Koleso), who searched at night and returned to the office in Moscow in the morning, and Alexander, the head of the volunteer fire brigade, Dmitry Volkov came with him (bayaga), who extinguished forest fires in the area before searching (now he leads the PSO "Polar Star") and Dmitry Lobanov (Hunter, Dmitry) with a dog - they were the ones who found the traces of Liza and her aunt, Masha, and friends, professional rescuers two Igors (Igor-73 and Igor - 107) and many, many, many others! It is simply impossible to list everyone! Several hundred caring people who abandoned their everyday lives and fled to the Moscow suburbs. The auto-forum, where Pavel described the chronology of events and attracted volunteers, collapsed from the number of visitors. The well-known LiveJournal wwwHYPERLINK "http://www.13sep2010.livejournal.com/".13sep2010.livejournal.com was opened, where about 20,000 people from all over the globe visited per day. Lisa and Masha were found too late. But that gigantic resonance, those mistakes and conclusions that were made after the searches left no other options than the creation of a professional volunteer search squad.
It became clear that one of the reasons for the failure in the search was the delay in obtaining operational information about the missing children, the disorganization and unpreparedness of the volunteers. The newly formed detachment was called upon to take on the training of volunteers, conducting training, and coordinating searches. Moreover, a team of volunteers has formed who have gained enough experience in conducting search operations. And under pressure from the public and volunteers, Pavel Filippovich (Pavel, Rasp), it was he, and not Grigory Sergeev (Grigoriy) and no one else created the Liza ALERT squad. LJ 13sep2010 a cry was thrown about the recruitment of volunteers in the detachment. Several hundred responses came in, including many who took an active part in the search. Even representatives of show business and authorities responded. Of course, there were those who joined on a common wave, many just sympathizers and "onlookers". The fact that they eventually left - did not come as a surprise, it has always been and will be so. But, the more dear to us that time-tested and experienced backbone that continues what we started has become. So, in memory and thanks to the little girl, the Liza ALERT detachment arose.
Late autumn and winter are a search lull. They walk less in the forest, they get lost less - great time for training and exercises. Groups were created for certain areas searches, an action plan was built and general gatherings of all volunteers were held in order to develop a unified strategy and the governing body of the detachment - the Council. Large general detachment exercises were carried out, with the participation of all-terrain vehicles and foot search engines.
In February 2011, the detachment had to go through hard times. The administrators of the resource (www.lizaalert.org), led by businessman Grigory Sergeev (Grigoriy), who were recruited on a voluntary basis, decided to remove the Council from managing the squad and start managing the squad on their own. Dishonest methods were used: they limited the ability of the leadership of the detachment and volunteers who disagreed with the administrators to communicate on the forum, turned off private messages, banned by ip-address, attracted people who had nothing to do with the detachment and had never participated in the search. In order to disrupt the holding of the general meeting, photocopies of powers of attorney were presented, including from people who had never taken part in the activities of the detachment. Who were these people? And how such actions were supposed to help look for children? Information about training was deleted, and an entertaining meeting was scheduled at the recreation center on the same date. Slander on the leadership of the detachment spread, and new volunteers who sincerely did not understand anything and asked fair questions to the admins on the forum most often received a ban. In secret from the other members of the detachment, meetings were held that were passed off as a general meeting of the detachment. When the leadership of the detachment demanded that the administrators resign, they simply disconnected him from the forum. Soon, in a close circle, the initiative group of the forum gathered and proclaimed itself the leader of the detachment. These people did not ask anyone registered on the forum, did not look at the key search engines that have done so much for the formation of the detachment. The main activity on the resource now is to attract as many people as possible, which is not difficult to do, given the number of interviews that they give out in the media, using the well-known and honest name of the detachment. Participating in the search, they misinform everyone, for example: the parents of Sasha Stepanov, who disappeared in May in the Mozhaisk district, are sure that a certain Grigory volunteer found him. 0 & p = 1 "sha, read Grigory Sergeev (Grigoriy), (43 minutes), although it is known for certain and displayed in the investigative documents that the huntsman A. Lebedev found the boy, who is not related to the search groups. Recent times accusations began to be heard against us, the organizers of the “Liza ALERT” detachment, that we interfere with the site administrators in their, as they say, “common cause”. Of course, we interfere J We do not distribute interviews, we do not involve the media for self-promotion, we do not conduct demonstration training under the guns of cameras, we do not wave flags and we do not take credit for information about the happy return of the lost to the family, but in fact we organize training and training. It is more difficult for them, knowing that the Lisa ALERT squad exists, as entity and a community of professional search engines, and not as an Internet forum that accumulates caring people around itself, and cannot use this huge human resource due to the lack of a clear and professional organization. It became more difficult for them to speak on TV, to give interviews in newspapers and magazines, telling how they organized the detachment. Because they did not organize it, and this is increasingly coming to the surface. It is even more strange that these people consider themselves entitled to give us instructions and accuse us of registering a detachment, which was publicly announced back in the fall of last year.
Do you believe that what is written here is true? Try asking uncomfortable questions on the lizaalert.org forum and see how they react. To begin with, during the day your registration will be considered and checked whether you are worthy to communicate on the "volunteer" forum, information about this is posted on the forum. Your question will most likely be deleted, and you yourself will be banned or put on pre-moderation. Read the old forum topics, for example, the "Activities" section, pay attention to the nicknames of the people who read here. Are we a “detachment that exists only on paper”? But after all, it was we who organized the LA, as evidenced by all the early topics created on the forum. The authors of the undertakings have carried out and are conducting trainings and are in charge of a real detachment. Only these people are no longer on the site. And not on their own initiative. Try it, there is not much time left - what if you have time to read these topics before they get into the closed, from ordinary users, section?
But the ambitions of such "volunteers" as Grigory Sergeev (Grigoriy) will not stop us from achieving our initial goals and objectives. The team's work will continue. We will conduct training, training, participate in searches. That's what we've been doing all this year. In spite of everything, we are still sure that strength and result are not in quantity and “loudness”, but in quality. We weren't going to get into a public squabble with these people, but the sudden flood of accusations from them forced us to tell the truth. And, we are still sure that no matter how the detachment is called, the result of its work and the professionalism of the search engines are much more important than the number of publications and interviews in the media. We encourage all volunteers to strive for this.
Sincerely, the leaders of MoOO "PSO "Liza ALERT"
Pavel Filippovich
Dmitry Lobanov
Stanislav Shakel
