DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) – An Ohio nonprofit and the family of Trenton Rollins, a 21-year-old Delaware man who was found dead in December after being missing for about eight months, are pushing for the state to regulate search and rescue operations.
Ethos Search Operations Team consists of volunteers who work with the authorities to help find missing or endangered individuals using K-9s, drones, ground searches, water operations and sonar. The nonprofit group only deploys at the request of law enforcement, fire departments or any other government agency with jurisdiction over a case.
But Ethos founder and executive director Jennifer Stokes said some search and rescue (SAR) entities operate without coordination with law enforcement, solicit families directly, claim expertise they do not have and interfere with investigations – and Ohio lacks statewide oversight to prevent vulnerable families from being targeted…