Can local law enforcement be bureaucratic and inflexible? You bet. Is there a hesitancy to allow outside, volunteer agencies into police investigations and searches?
You bet. If this becomes a criminal investigation (and it may), then allowing self-described "SAR teams" into the area could compromise evidence, indictments, and possible a conviction by the DA. Don't believe me? Look what Jonnie Cochrain and his ilk did to an very professional, thorough, and legal investigation into the crime scene of the OJ double murder.
Thanks again for your efforts.
I understand what you are saying, but we are also trained in preserving crime scenes. Oh, two weeks ago we were involved in a search for an individual in a 150 acre park. The police had used their dogs and had been searching for the individual for two weeks. My team (my task) found them within 4 hours. They were questioning why we were re-searching an area that they had already searched. I still don't know how they missed him. He was in the woods for two weeks. He did not smell good. It was a crime scene and we handled it properly.
And finding the kids took a backseat to finding who committed the crime against them (if any)? Typical egotistical bureaucratism.