A NEW scheme to help quicken the search to find missing people in Devon and Cornwall has been proposed by neighbourhood watch groups.

The Devon and Cornwall Community Watch Association wants to work with Devon and Cornwall Constabulary headquarters to compile a database of people who would be interested in helping the police search for missing people in the two counties.

The system would be similar to one which is already run very successfully in Sussex.

Under the scheme, all volunteers who would like to help have their names held on a secure database and carry an identity card. Searchers would have to be available for response to a search plea within 20 to 30 minutes of a call out, and work in pairs. Those who join the database would receive full training on searching in urban and rural environments.

The Devon and Cornwall Community Watch Association are now asking for the police?s support in setting up the scheme here.

The association is asking people interested in joining to forward their name, telephone number, and the parish/district in which they live, to Colin Harris, DaCCWA chairman: via e-mail at [email protected]">[email protected] or letter to Search Groups, Stoneycroft, Lewdown, Okehampton, EX20 4DQ.