A tragic incident on the Lincolnshire coast in August 2022 — when a missing child was later found dead — became the catalyst for one of the more compelling partnership case studies in recent community safety practice.
In the aftermath, neighbourhood policing teams reviewed the true scale of the problem and found a troubling gap between what was officially recorded and what was actually happening on the ground. Police systems logged 22 missing children from local beaches; RNLI lifeguards recorded 56 reports, including 39 multi-agency searches. On the day of the fatal incident alone, officers recalled around 10 missing children — but only four had been formally logged. Clear patterns emerged: two consistent hotspots, peak risk between 4pm and 7pm, and every affected child under 13 and visiting from outside the area.
Using the SARA problem-solving model (Scan, Analyse, Respond, Assess), Lincolnshire Police brought together RNLI Lifeguards and Lifeboats, HM Coastguard, National Coastwatch, local councils, holiday parks, and local businesses to redesign the response from the ground up.
The centrepiece was the Sandi Starfish wristband scheme — free wristbands for children and vulnerable adults, paired with highly visible, staffed safe-point flags. The aim was simple: children know where to go, adults know what to do, and prevention becomes shared across the whole partnership rather than resting on policing alone. Shared radio communications, joint training, and a single missing-child log helped coordinate responses on the ground, with hotspot areas staffed during peak hours.
The results were significant. Between 2023 and 2025, reports of lost and missing children fell by 96%, with minimum policing savings estimated at £85,000. The approach also delivered 607 staff engagement hours across 44 days in hotspot areas, and 22,000 pieces of crime-prevention and water safety literature distributed to visitors. The findings were independently reviewed by Lincoln University.
What stands out is the honesty in how the partnership got there — no agency had failed individually, but the system was reactive rather than preventative until the data forced a harder look. It’s a useful reminder that safeguarding problems involving children in busy public spaces rarely have a single owner, and that meaningful prevention often starts with better shared understanding of a problem before any new intervention is designed.
Source: From Tragedy to Transformation: How Evidence-Based Policing and Partnership Reduced Harm on the Lincolnshire Coast — Society of Evidence-Based Policing (2 June 2026)
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