Lancashire Police launch Forcer Protocol during Armed Forces Week

The Forcer Protocol will provide key information about veterans when there are concerns for their welfare and we need to find them.

It has launched on the day when the Armed Forces Week flag was raised at the constabulary’s headquarters (pictured right) to recognise the service of members of the armed forces in Lancashire.

The Forcer Protocol enables family members, friends and professional carers to record important information about service veterans which can be quickly made available to police in the event of them going missing.

Veterans themselves can also register and provide details. This can be done via The Forcer Protocol registration link on the safeandfoundonline.co.uk/register.php website.

Our control room can access the voluntarily supplied details and share with an officer should a service veteran be reported missing from home.  

This would hopefully allow our officers to find a missing veteran safe and well as swiftly as possible.

Supt Gary Crowe, chair of our Armed Forces Staff Support Group, said: “Serving within and transitioning from the armed forces can be an overwhelming experience, and in some instances leaving behind that way of life is difficult and distressing for the individual concerned.

“The Forcer Protocol enables veterans, as well as their loved ones and professional carers to provide information about them – such as places they like to go – to help us find them if they ever go missing.

“It is a third-party data source being added to our toolbox at Lancashire Constabulary to help us find missing people.

“This will enable us to reduce the risk to vulnerable people and put support in place.

“By introducing the Forcer Protocol at Lancashire, we are also continuing to show that we are one the UK’s leading forces in relation to our Armed Forces Covenant and veteran support.”

The Forcer Protocol is named after Alan Forcer, who tragically took his own life following concerns over his whereabouts.

Alan suffered with complex PTSD, extreme anxiety, physical pain and debilitating depression following service in Northern Ireland and Kosovo during the heights of conflicts.

The devastation of war and transition to civilian life weighed heavily on Alan’s mind, as it does with many of our veterans.

His problems and the issues he encountered along the veteran care pathway are sadly not unique to Alan.