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If you wish to volunteer for the search, you are asked to go to the LDS Stake Center located at 142 W. 200 North in downtown Salt Lake. Volunteers will be taken until 6 pm this evening, and again on Thursday starting at 8 am. Volunteers need to be at least 18-years-old. Please bring a Photo ID with you.Richard Piatt Reporting
The number of volunteers searching for Lori Hacking dropped off significantly today. More than 300 joined the effort, compared with more than one thousand yesterday. The problem may have been confusion over where volunteers should meet this morning.
The Lori Hacking mystery has triggered a missing person search machine. There's no question: experience with this kind of case is paying off.
For volunteers it is now a door to door search. More and more people are being encouraged to keep their eyes and ears open. Armed with maps, bottled water, and a few snacks, people are stepping up who don't know Lori Hacking, but who relate to the family's loss.
Ryan Abeyta, Volunteer Searcher: "I've got a wife, it reminds me of my wife and if it were her I'd sure be doing everything I could."
In spite of temporary miscommunication about where the volunteer command post is, efforts to mobilize dozens of strangers to a common task is efficient. That is a direct result of expertise gained from the Elizabeth Smart case. In fact, her uncles are helping organize a non-profit resource---U-Search---for future cases.
Chris Smart, Volunteer Coordinator: "One of the things that came out of Elizabeth's search , several of the different searchers saw how important it was. So they wanted to put together a group for that."
Lance Hacking, Lori's Brother: "The police were prepared with grids of search areas, they had forms ready to go for organizing volunteer searches."
Volunteers report more general awareness to suspicious sights and sounds during regular de-briefings. And the police are better at directing their energy to tracking Lori in ways the public can't. The search effort is getting smoother all the time.
The family is still asking for volunteers. Those volunteers are asked to come to 142 West 200 North.
