POLSA
Definition
Police Search Advisor: a specialist role in England and Wales responsible for planning and commanding a search operation, selecting methods, and maintaining a legally defensible tasking log.
- Jurisdiction
- England and Wales
- Role type
- Specialist police command role
- Core duties
- Plan and command search operations, select methods
- Key record
- Legally defensible tasking log
Common questions
How does a POLSA differ from a search team member?+
The POLSA does not usually search personally; they design the search strategy, choose the methods and resources, brief the team, and remain accountable for decisions that may later be tested in court.
Why does the tasking log matter to a prosecution?+
It records who searched what, how, and when, so the defence can be shown the search was systematic and not selective, which supports the admissibility of items found.
Related terms
- Desk-Based Assessment
- The pre-fieldwork intelligence phase in which investigators review maps, aerial images, witness accounts, and land records to define a search area and...
- Hypothesis-Led Search
- A search approach that targets specific locations predicted by intelligence or terrain analysis, testing those predictions before expanding to lower-probability areas.
- Probability Mapping
- A spatial analysis technique that assigns relative likelihood scores to grid cells or terrain zones based on accessibility, soil type, offender behaviour...
- Systematic-Grid Search
- An approach that divides the search area into a uniform grid and covers each cell at equal density, used when the deposit...
- Tasking Log
- The written record of every instruction, decision, and team action during a search operation. It is a contemporaneous document admissible as evidence...