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Help find Prabh Srawn $50,000 reward 11-Jun-2013 At 3:19:37 PM GWil

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On 11/06/2013 Cliff wrote:
>I'll wager $100 that you cannot provide evidence of any S&R, police or
>similar expert requesting the family "not to incite vigilante-style independent
>SAR".

Sorry Cliff, but I'll disagree. Aside from the original reward ($15,000) being withdrawn the same week as it was first posted, in line with request from "the authorities" (and then backed up by the sister, Mandeep Srawn), the NSW Police Superintendent (Shane Box, if you want to Google his comments) has come out on several occasions and warned against individuals conducting their own searches.

I think the my reaction has been sustained based on the opening lines from the reward posting, and the direct implications given:
"Find Prabh... get $15,000. Easiest money you’ll make hikers!"

Now, I'll admit that the wording has since been tidied up a little, but the sentiment remains the same in my eyes. It directly implies that untrained, and non-cohesive hikers/outdoorsmen will do a better job of searching for and successfully recovering a missing person than the recognised and official search force. It's a slap in the face for the efforts made by the NSW police, SAR groups, NSW Parks & Wildlife, SES, etc and I believe can easily be described as vigilante-style. Gung-ho, outside the law. The Police have acknowledged that they've got no way to stop people doing it, but they've not made a secret of the fact they disapprove.

Again, any situation of missing/presumed dead is horrible and heart-breaking. I've seen it enough before. But I still hate to see this kind of action. Not to say that some part of me doesn't understand it, but I cannot and do not condone it.