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…