Sudbury police say there is no cause for alarm after an increased police presence at Kivi Park in the city's South End on Friday as dozens of officers and volunteers underwent search and rescue training.
The annual training involving Greater Sudbury Police Service and North Shore Search and Rescue was scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but ended early.
Officials said a search has many different facets from coordinating teams and technology to dealing with the vast geography and challenging terrain in northern Ontario.
In a mock exercise just before noon, crews carried a man they rescued from the bush who was reported missing after going out hiking.
"Due to operational needs we can't always have all of the officers that we require on scene and the North Shore Search and Rescue volunteers supplement our search capabilities. It increases our capability we can search a larger area in a shorter amount of time," said Const. Kevin Tremblay, of the Greater Sudbury Police Service.
North Shore Search and Rescue is made up of volunteers.
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"There is a strategy and format that we use to find people and it takes a lot of man hours and training to learn how that works and how to strategically. So training days like this allow us to get better at that," said Adam Page, the search coordinator of the group.
Searchers said Project Life Saver is a critical tool that helps them find people who are at risk of wandering due to conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia.
"It consists of basically a transmitting device that the clients would wear on their wrist. The police and North Shore Search and Rescue actually have the antennas and we use these antennas to be able to locate that missing person," Tremblay said.
The search and rescue group said Project Lifesaver leads to good outcomes in most situations.
"It's incredibly accurate and can cut a search down from days to hours," Page said.
A total of 30 officers and search and rescue volunteers took part in the training Friday and said it's important to learn and practise for when real situations and time is of the essence.
Throughout the training, the park remained open to visitors.
Earlier this week, a person carrying a pellet gun caused quite a scare at the park. Police descended upon the popular recreational area, but found it was a toy Orbeez gun.
