Search for the Kims was riddled with errors
An update on the story of the tragic end for James Kim, it seems that the whole search operation was doomed for failure. Since the search was spread across different counties, there was no central command for the whole operation and important information was not being relayed properly. Even the breakthrough of finding the mobile “ping” and the copters that found Kati and her children were outside of the official search party.
The search-and-rescue coordinator now acknowledges she was overwhelmed by the demands of the search. She failed to call for help from the National Guard, which meant that heat-detecting helicopters stayed on the ground in the crucial two nights James Kim slept in the forest.
Her direct supervisor, an undersheriff in his last week on the job, said he ignored a late-night call from her about the case because he was watching an Oregon State football game on television.
It was like Katrina all over again.
News link : Confusion hampered search for Kims
December 19th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
It was not the geographic scope that was at fault. The residence was San Francisco so SFPD was where the report had to be initially filed for any Oregon counties to begin a search. Searches are most often coordinated at the county level but Josephine county seemed particularly inept at taking the most clearly indicated courses of action such as searching the most likely route of travel or using available FLIR equipped helicopters. Oregon state police taking command of search appears to have been due to publicity.