Statement: “It’s a very low percentage,” Pam Medhurst said in a Q&A with us published Friday about how often the Sheriff’s Department fails to resolve a search and rescue.
Determination: True
Analysis: More than 200 people consistently volunteer for the Sheriff’s Department when the call comes in that someone is lost or missing in San Diego County. On Thursday, I interviewed one of those people, Pam Medhurst, about her experiences as the K-9 unit’s leader.
During the interview, Medhurst told me that the search and rescue crew rarely fails to find people. The outcome isn’t always positive or immediate, but they eventually get family or friends an answer to the haunting question, “Where could they have possibly gone?”
And in fact, Medhurst’s estimate measures up to the department’s statistics. Since 1963, its Search and Rescue Bureau reports a 98 percent success rate. Just to be clear, “success” doesn’t necessarily mean the person was found safe and sound. It just means the department solved the mystery with a definitive answer.
Nonetheless, since this statement checks out, we’ve called it true.
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Please contact Keegan Kyle directly at keegan.kyle@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5668 and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/keegankyle.