Paarmo, you are correct - eyes are eyes when looking for a missing person. But that's nowhere near all we do. We need those eyes to be connected to a brain that has stores of experience in all kinds of police work in order to make them effective. Using your argument, why not get civilians to drive the police cars? After all, behind the wheel isn't front line policing is it? The problem comes when they have to step out of the vehicle. Perhaps you should ask the "civilians" at Surrey if their training was sufficient to deal with the larcenous, itinerant, travelling folk who smashed up their aircraft?