"SAR training exercise in South Dunedin concludes"

Statement attributable to Dunedin Police SAR Co-ordinator Sergeant Nathan White

The search and rescue training operation, based on the case of missing woman Denise Potter, concluded in South Dunedin today.

The operation was an important learning exercise for Southern District search teams.

A lot of value was gained from the exercise that will benefit search teams in the region in preparation for future searches.

Incident management team members had their skills tested with a number or scenarios injected into the exercise such as the spontaneous arrival of a group of volunteers.

Field searchers were also put through their paces in the urban environment which proposes its own set of challenges.

During the search phase, many residents in the area were spoken to and had their properties searched.

Some provided information that had not been previously made available.

This was assessed and followed up but at this point has not provided any further leads to locate Denise.

Police would like to once again thank Denise’s family for their support during the exercise.

There is no plan to continue the search following the exercise.

ENDS

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