diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
index 0fa77b3d7..f8add5a52 100644
--- a/app/models/person.rb
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -100,10 +100,12 @@ class Person < ApplicationRecord
   # @return [Person::ActiveRecord_Relation]
   scope :find_by_substring, ->(search_str) {
     search_str.strip!
-    return none if search_str.blank? || search_str.size < 2
-
-    sql, tokens = search_query_string(search_str)
-    joins(:profile).where(sql, *tokens)
+    if search_str.blank? || search_str.size < 2
+      none
+    else
+      sql, tokens = search_query_string(search_str)
+      joins(:profile).where(sql, *tokens)
+    end
   }
 
   # Left joins likes and comments to a specific post where people are authors of these comments and likes