Just a very quick post about a meeting I went to last night; where I hope I witnessed the birth of a new search and rescue team in Surrey.
Hosted by Surrey Police, with speakers from ALSAR, LSDogs and Sussex Search and Rescue, a core team of volunteers were gathered and will hopefully take on the setting up of the team.
For all the latest information view the SARworld website.
It might have seemed over the past few weeks or months that I am somehow “down” on ALSAR. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
So today I wanted to write some brief thoughts on what ALSAR does do well.
First and foremost, it has to be said – without ALSAR the UK would not have the excellent lowland (or vulnerable missing person) search capacity that it does. ALSAR saves lives…
It does this by supporting local county teams, helping them set-up, giving them the professional backing that means the police trust and use them. Never, ever underestimate the value of this!
ALSAR also does an excellent job in building a “community” within lowland SAR. Wherever I go I am always at home within any ALSAR team. Not only that but the strengthening ties between ALSAR and MR means I am welcomed into and feel welcomed by MR members I meet.
ALSAR also does an excellent job at representing us all at a National level! Adrian Edwards represents us all in a very professional manner, allowing us all to reap the rewards of his committee ability!
I’m sure everyone here can add loads too…
The Mountain Rescue England & Wales campaign to get HM Government to waive VAT for MR and ALSAR teams got the backing this week of Private Eye.
As they comment;
Gordon Brown waived VAT at a stroke for the Simon Cowell produced celebrity cover version of Everybody Hurts to raise funds for Haiti. The mountain rescuers don’t begrudge the earthquake victims a penny; but they wonder why the government can’t do the same for them.
Maybe it’s time for us all to start contacting the prospective candidates for our constituencies getting their support for after the election?
The comment made by Brian Johnson on the Inland Flood Rescue Association post started me thinking. He noted that “someone had to take charge and put all of the teams into some useful context.”
This lead me to thinking about SAR teams without a role…
Johnnie Walker commented that T24 “do not provide the services they claim, and take charitable money away from the ‘real’ SAR groups operating in county: SusSAR and Lowland Search Dogs Sussex. Have they been involved in Searches and/or Rescues in Sussex? No. Do Sussex Police use them for the search and subsequent rescue of vulnerable missing people? No. Did they discuss county requirements with the Police or other agencies before setting up? No” whilst Kris Manning noted that the STAR Team had had “lots of training exercises but as far as I can see not a single callout since 2007.”
Businesses starting up need to do their market research; not only does there need to be a NEED, but the company needs to be able to actually break into the market and sell their product or service. Failing to do this market research means a business goes bust.
SAR charities are different though. They do not require either a need or a market to set-up. All they need is the perception of having both and they can collect money and “play” at SAR.
Not so, of course, in the mainstream SAR world [for want of a better term] – ALSAR, for instance, requires a letter from the local police stating they need and will use the search services of the local team before they can become operational. (This has actually stopped one team from becoming an ALSAR team!)
I’m not suggesting that any particular SAR team is not being utilised or is somehow cheating charitable donations, but I do wonder how many SAR teams are out there that don’t have a role…
You may remember a long while back me writing a short news article introducing a Specialist Night / Low Light Search Technician Certification Course from Gary Foo. Several comments were made at the time, with Jennie Webster making the valid point that;
Maybe explicit courses such as this would make it more obvious that ALSAR teams can and do search at night?
It’s a good idea in principle, although other courses e.g. UKLSI search techician and team leader have their main exercise at night anyway, and stress the importance of night search too.
The purpose of this piece then is to reiterate that ALSAR and other SAR organisations not only routinely search at night – but actually expect search to continue through the night. As I noted in my piece on do the police suspend vulnerable missing person search too quickly some advice from the ACPO guidance, which I think is worth repeating here…
As a general principle, searching should take place throughout the day and night. This will be determined by the circumstances but in all cases where a full managed search is undertaken, there must be valid reasons why it is not continued throughout the full 24 hours.
ACPO Guidance on the Managment, Recording and Investigation of Missing Persons, 2005
Here is also a quote from the book of the week – Greg Fuller, Ed Johnson and Robert J Koester’s book Man-Trackers and Dog Handlers in Search & Rescue – Basic Guidelines and Information.
…night itself should not be a concern to trained searchers. The possibility of walking off a drop-off and branches snapping back into searchers’ eyes are the chief concerns. All of these concerns exist during the daylight hours…
It is true that searchers will have a greatly reduced POD during night-time searches. However, it is important to remember that POD is NOT the aim of the search. The aim of search is to drive up POS as quickly as possible (FIND THE MISPER!). Waiting 6 -8 hours in order to get a higher POD means that the misper will not be found during those hours. The misper’s only chance of being found is if searchers are actually out searching!
ALSAR teams train at night, they search at night and they find mispers at NIGHT!
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