In 2023, Esri published an article about the Veteranen Search Team (VST), focusing on the contribution of Blue Team Intelligence on the geographic analysis.

In 2017, the Veteran Search Team (VST) foundation was formed to help police during missing-person searches. Of the 2,600 volunteers, 85 percent are veterans of the Netherlands Armed Forces, while others are former police, fire, and other uniformed professionals. The foundation aims to bring volunteers’ expertise into crisis events and support police-driven search efforts, helping families find their missing loved ones.

“What VST does is very important to society. It’s terrible not knowing what has happened to your loved ones,” said Bas Ooink, owner of Blue Team Intelligence. “The first 24 hours are very important; you’re always fighting against time when you’re searching for someone.”

Ooink connected with the foundation in 2018 serving as an intelligence officer. At the time, he introduced volunteers to ArcGIS technology and did geospatial analysis for them. In 2021, Ooink started Blue Team Intelligence and offered to help build an app using geographic information system (GIS) technology. The app would help with communications and organizing search efforts.

“The idea was to have them start the app, create a new project, and start planning and doing their intelligence [tasks],” said Ooink. “Now they know exactly where everybody should be and where they should start their search.”

Read the full article on: https://www.esri.com/en-us/lg/industry/public-safety/stories/how-veteran-search-team-uses-gis-to-find-missing-people-in-the-netherlands