A view that police may have not have used their specialised team to the extent they could have in the hunt for Tom Phillips

They've revealed today that Phillips and his children were detected in transit on occasion but never in circumstances that allowed officers to safely intervene.

But police say they dedicated thousands of hours to the search and never stopped trying to find them.

Former Police Negotiator Lance Burdett says there were possibly more resources that could have been used.

He says police has an advanced negotiation team well versed in psychological practices and human behaviour and questions if they were used enough.