Mounted search and rescue

["T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>]

Welcome Derek,

In both Canada and the United States (USA) nearly all search and rescue 
missions will begin as a (local government) missing person report. Law 
enforcement is frequently presented with the difficult task of 
investigating and searching for missing persons. While many of these 
cases are quickly resolved through basic investigation, some cases may 
require a substantial effort to physically search large areas of land. 
The important thing to identify is what does your response region 
authority require as a minimum standard.

Here is the USA there are several local (County level) governments that 
have implemented Mounted Search and Rescue (MSAR) standards into their 
SAR plan.  However, currently there is only one State level  government 
that approves search & rescue standards and provides (no cost) state 
level SAR training and testing.  The Virginia SAR and MSAR standards are 
approved by the State Attorney General at the request of the Virginia 
Department of Emergency Management.  In the Commonwealth of Virginia 
there are numerous county/local SAR teams that do not meet the State 
standards and who only operate within their local area, thus never 
getting deployed by the State to incidents outside of their (local) 
jurisdiction. In Virginia, the state picks up the tab for Worker's Comp 
(providing coverage for state credentialed volunteer SAR teams), which 
is the primary reason why counties call for state assistance early into 
a search mission.  The State of of Virginia uses a SAR council (VASARCO) 
to validate both operational standards and recommend SAR teams for a 
state MOU (it should be noted that the VA SAR standards pre-dates 
NASAR). More information about VA SAR standards and protocol can be 
found online at: <http://www.vdem.state.va.us/programs/sar/index.cfm>  
and at <www.vasarco.org>  You may want to check out the 2009 VA SAR 
Conference page on the VASARCO site as there will be MSAR courses 
provided this year. 

In the State of Maryland the Department of Natural Resources Police has 
a process to validate volunteer SAR teams.  Similar to the State of 
Maine (and some of your law enforcement regional police departments), 
the Maryland SAR standards are approved by a State law enforcement 
agency, thus making them a state approved set of standards.  An overview 
of MD-NRP SAR requirements can be found on the bottom of the page at: 
<http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/nrp/volunteer.html>  Currently the TROTSAR 
Mounted Team is the only MSAR team that has been validated by the 
MD-NRP.  The MD State Police also use the MD-NRP SAR roster when 
volunteer resources are needed.  Since our team's MSAR standards meet 
the VA standards, MD-NRP has accepted our MSAR standards & testing 
procedures as their minimum criteria.  I can sent you a PDF copy of our 
standards off-line if you wish (email officers@trotsar.org to request a 
copy).  .

Best of luck! Including MSAR responders that are tested to specific 
standards to your team's mission is a very wise move.

Regards,

T'mi
www.trotsar.org      
  

Derek (alternate) wrote:

> Hello fellow SAR searchers!
>
>
> I am wondering if anyone in this group has had a similar development, and if
> there are any suggestions.  MSAR is a relatively unused thing here in
> Saskatchewan, so what ever I come up with is already being eyed as a way for
> our neighbouring chapters to model after.
>
>
> Derek Schmidt
> Director of Training
> Search and Rescue Regina
> Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
>
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