Posts Tagged ‘Search Controller’

Qualified Search Controllers, Search Managers and Search Trainers

January 24th, 2010

One of the comments made following my piece on getting the search controllers assignment right was that a database of qualified search controllers and managers would be useful to “trainees” [for want of a better word...]

In truth what Johnnie Walker actually said was;

Rob, could you collate and list the qualified Search Controllers within ALSAR, so that people know who to speak to for help? (let’s not discuss whether this is an ALSAR function rather than a Re-search issue; JFDI!) [Read it here ...]

Unfortunately I do not have the time to find e-mail addresses for all the teams and waste time discussing with any of them whether this is a suitable activity, whether this comes under data protection and so on. This is not to say I’m adverse to collating such information – which let’s face it would be extremely useful to so many people and organisations.

So, from today, I will be keeping a database of search controllers, search managers and search trainers/instructors within the UK (or I suppose available in the UK).

If you as an individual wish to be on this database, (or if your team/unit wishes all its qualified members to be on the database), drop me an e-mail with details of your qualifications, courses taken and/or courses you can teach. If you include your contact details (along with which way you prefer to be contacted!) that would be helpful too!

I promise that this information will be kept in the strictest confidence and only released to members of recognised SAR teams/organisations and/or police forces if you agree.

It has been pointed out that my e-mail address is not published on the website anywhere – and I intend it to stay that way! If you do not have my e-mail address, put a comment asking for it and I’ll e-mail you! Anything else?

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Getting the Search Controller Assignment Right (First Time!)

January 21st, 2010

According to ALSAR you are not qualified to manage or control a search unless you have passed an assessment to say you are competent to do so! I think this is quite right. I do not care how good a course you sat through – unless you can prove you have taken some of it in, you should not be making life or death decisions [and have no doubt that is what a search manager/controller does!]

I am always very pleased then, to receive people’s Search Controller’s Assessments after they have sat their UKLSI Course. Those that sit through the course and then believe they are somehow “qualified” to run a search are wrong!

However, very often delegates have a problem completing the assignment. This is generally not due to their not being able to do the work, or them being somehow incompetent. More often it is due to a misunderstanding of how to pass assessments. So here, exclusively, is my guide to passing your search controller’s assessment!

When you are given your assignment you are given a list of assessment criteria. This is your guide to what you need to do to pass. Write or say something about each point and you have a good chance of passing. Miss any of them and you CANNOT pass!

So number one on the check-list is “recognise common pitfalls”. Look at your two searches, see whether any of the common pitfalls Charlie Hedges wrote about were present. If they were, say so. If not, say something to the effect that none were present – you might like to explain one and what happened on the search to prove its worth.

Number two, “demonstrate understanding of the benefits of pre-planning”. If one of your searches was pre-planned state how this helped. If it wasn’t pre-planned state what help it would have been had it been pre-planned – what went wrong or took time that could have been prevented by pre-planning. Note on your pre-plan how it helps with the next search incident at that location.

Number three… well, hopefully you are seeing that pattern. The assessment is not there to be difficult – in fact the activities were deliberately chosen to be useful to you and your Unit. But in order to demonstrate your competence you must discuss everything on the assessment sheet!

Have no doubt it will be hard work. It will take some time – something none of us have much of! But if you want to run a search and make those decisions – I think you ought to at least put in the time and effort to prove you are up to it!

Hopefully, this will have helped some of you. If anyone wants to add something – please do…

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ISIS SAR Search Exercise Evaluation

December 16th, 2009

From the way I write you would think that ALSAR is falling apart; I keep saying “one of the things we do badly is…”.
And guess what? Here is yet another thing that I believe ALSAR doesn’t do well at. Sharing knowledge; especially feedback and learning points from search exercise de-briefs and evaluations. But one of the newest ALSAR Units is going to lead the way on this.

Read on…

Rob asked me to provide a write up of the Isis SAR exercise earlier this month.  I’m sorry it took so long to do – university got in the way…

On Sunday 6th December, Isis SAR’s first full search exercise took place.  The RV was at Chinnor Cement works, Oxfordshire, and searchers attending were from WilSAR, Isis SAR, SEBEV and LSDogs.  We also had three guests from Thames Valley Police Service and one from TASR – Technical and Specialist Rescue, who offer Isis training in water access and ropes.  WilSAR brought their new control vehicle, along with their kayaks and bikes.  Isis SAR brought the inflatable rib they have access to, in order to see if this was an effective manner to search larger areas of deep water, and also brought the new control vehicle, which had been so kindly donated by WilSAR earlier in the week.

The search was pre-planned, based on a scenario of a typical male despondent.  Adrian Smith (WilSAR) and Jennie Webster (Isis SAR) drew up and roughly prioritised the sectors the day before to ensure that the exercise did not involve too much waiting around for searchers while all the planning took place.  Although this did significantly cut down on the waiting around, there was still a delay while waiting for people to get there, as confirmation from a few more people had been received.  This was a main learning point for control, not to wait next time and to brief those who were there at the RV time.

Thirty five searchers took part in the exercise, with three in control.  Two “directors” were present to answer any questions from the police as to what ALSAR teams do.  Ten teams were sent out to sectors.  These comprised of a bike team, a kayak team, two dog teams, six foot teams and a boat team.

Eleven sectors were searched, four of which covered the 300m radius surrounding the place last seen, and so were covered by two different teams each.  The kayak team and second dog team were both redeployed to second sectors, and control were in the process of redeploying further foot teams when reports came in that the misper had been located.  The teams covered a large area in a small amount of time, demonstrating a high level of skill and current search knowledge in all the teams that were present.

The search area covered the 300m radius surrounding the PLS, significant reflectors within the 50% radius (where 50% of the misper category would have been found) and main routes and paths within this area.  Feedback from teams was encouraging, and no one reported that the sectors were inappropriate.  The qualified search controllers attending were happy with the pre-planned search areas and gave lots of constructive feedback on how to improve the exercise next time, e.g. getting teams out searching faster and being more assertive in control.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed the day and it was a really useful experience to be in control for the first time, especially working alongside such experienced search controllers.  I hope to improve next time I get to run control on an exercise – with more of an idea of what happens it should all go better the second time.  I felt it was good to have an exercise area where lots of different kinds of resources could go out on the ground and it was very good to be able to work with members of LSDogs and find out more about their capabilities.

I hope that everyone who attended had a good time and felt that it was a useful exercise and worth the long drives that quite a lot of people made.  We’d like to thank everyone who came for supporting us, and especially the WilSAR members who helped us organise and run it.

If anyone is reading this who attended, I’d love to hear any comments on how the exercise was set up and run, any feedback, whether negative or positive, would be really useful.

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What is a Search Pre-Plan?

December 8th, 2009

As Daryl asked so nicely I’ve decided to write some more about search pre-plans and what should go in one.

Different SAR teams have different templates, content and so on. It is difficult then to give a definitive answer.
However, the way to look at the question is not what should go in the pre-plan, but rather what would be useful to me when I come to search this particular area next week, month or year?

So put on your Search Controller hat for a second.

Firstly, where am I going to put Control?
Will this search be run from the local police station, an office or building on-site, or your Unit’s mobile Control Unit? Having made this decision, write it down and find out how to put this into action when the call comes in. Who would you need to speak to? Is the room always available? Is there a parking space for the van? Power? and so on…

Next, where is the RV point going to be?
Asking all the usual questions, sufficient parking, close by etc. This solves a big problem if the Search Controller already has this detail to hand when they need to call the team out.

A long time is spent sorting out mapping for any incident, so get it sorted now.
Pre-sector the map.
Consider having pre-printed sector maps for teams, or if not have them saved and ready to print out first thing. Make sure you have walked all the areas – mark on potential hazards, what PPE gear is required, issues that might affect the search and so on. Digital photos are easy to take and give the Search Management Team and Team Leader an idea of what the sector is going to be like. If access is required, give the relevant people’s names and phone numbers.

Will you need specialist resources for any of the areas?
Dogs? Rope Access? Boats [Maybe a Search and Rescue Hovercraft?]? Underwater Search? In most instances, the sooner they are notified the better. Have you got their contact numbers? The names of the relevant people? If you know before getting there they will be needed they can be on route whilst you are.

I keep mentioning names; the great benefit of a search pre-plan is that people get to know one another before the event. In some cases even knowing that one or other group exists! This has been proven time and time again to benefit the management of the incident. The plan may never work, but at least the people involved can work together.

A search pre-plan is just that; a search plan, ready to go when you need it.

Once it’s done, of course, it needs to be tested, training needs to be done and so on; but that’s another post for another day.

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Search Management Training Courses

November 16th, 2009

I’m often asked about the variety of Search Management and Search Controller courses that are available; what are they like? what is the difference? etc.

Before I include a couple of links to some Search Management/Controller courses I have found on the Internet I wanted to explain how I see the difference in the wordings.

A Search Controllers Course, is one that teaches the practicalities of managing the initial response to an incident – mapping, reflex tasking, bike wheel model and so on. Whilst it may touch on the science and mathematics that lie behind search, it does not try to teach these.

A Search Managers Course, is one that teaches how to use the mathematics of search theory to optimally allocate search resources. Very few police forces in the UK require the use of these mathematics in the initial or first operational period. After this time however, I would expect someone to take over, who whilst they might not use them fully understands the search theory underpinning the search effort.

The person running your search might have either of these types of qualification, and may in many cases use the terms interchangeable [especially search controllers wanting to be search managers, although many so-called search management courses do not teach the mathematics]. However, I would tend to refer to the Search Management/Control/Coordination TEAM managing a search as I would not expect to see one individual running any search – however small [despite the fact I know it happens]. In my mind they are not running the search efficiently or as well as possible, whatever they think!

UKLSI Search Controllers Course;

Obviously one of the best UK search courses [because I teach on it!]. The UKLSI course is a very practical course, all about running the initial search – getting hands-on with maps, sectoring and allocating resources. Used by many ALSAR and Police forces to teach those practical skills often missing in other courses.

International Rescue Training Centre Wales;

This five day Course teaches the principles of effective management of searching for lost persons. Whilst the emphasis is placed on open country search the principles are applicable to a much wider field of search operations. Considerable success has been achieved in the United Kingdom and Eire in finding missing persons quicker, with fewer resources and in a better state of health.

The MREW Courses use the well-tested Search Actions Outline (SAO), which was developed specifically for MREW by one of the world’s leading authorities in the application of search theory to land search…

Emergency Response UK;

Just like good, down to earth, detective work is sometimes required to solve a difficult crime, good investigation and the application of basic ‘search theory’ principles can make the difference on a difficult search…

I also found this interesting search management course for non-search trained persons,

Green Man, Missing Person Management Course;

It is aimed at anyone who works with young people – outdoor centres, schools, youth clubs, Scouts and Guides, cadets etc.  It equips organisations with key skills in effective management of immediate search techniques, which will crucially speed up finding a missing person. ..

Personally, looking at the course content, I believe this course tries to cover way too much ground and will only give the very barest detail on search techniques and search “management” [a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!] but then I suppose that is what they are hoping to achieve!

Feel free to write your own review of any of the courses, or add links to any others you know about, below:

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