Mounted search and rescue

["IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>]

Managing volunteers, trained or untrained, is just part of the job.  If you are a professional (not necessarily career) you deal with the family, the public, the trained responder and the spontaneous (What can I do to Help?) volunteer.

 

Trained resources were untrained until somebody volunteered to organize them, train, them and integrate them into the community’s response. You may be born with the ability to track or ride or train but it must be developed and focused.  In the past there were conflicts between the paid people and the volunteers because the

volunteers adversely impacted the overtime of the career people.  For instance, under its union firefighter contract Philadelphia can’t call upon a volunteer manned fire company perhaps a couple of city blocks away from a call until every off duty union member has been personally called to return to work, and it doesn’t matter if there are no fire trucks to put them on either. Yet over 90% of Pennsylvania is protected by volunteers. It costs a lot of money to train them, but at least they are not on salary while being trained.

 

Even when volunteer manpower is used the jurisdiction has some costs.  Police get paid, fuel gets used, food served (often by volunteer canteen services), public buildings opened.  This creates a problem for a municipality or a state agency that is cash strapped for minimal daily operations in this economy.  This often means that the career personnel assigned to a case by the “missing persons” agency get no overtime, limited expenses, and have too many other cases to handle.  So little or no field work is done officially.  Family and friends, and the community, often are faced with doing something rather than having nothing done at all if a field search is indicated.

 

This creates a problem for organized responses.  Whether it is a search team or another resource, the resource must be authorized by somebody to respond.

This is often a legal requirement documented in the community response plan, mutual aid agreements, dispatch protocols, or even in law.  Workman’s comp carriers often require an official dispatch to start coverage.  Our liability coverage starts on dispatch, when an published training event starts, or a fundraiser begins.  The key here is dispatch.  And how do you resolve conflicts? At one pint we were told by the county emergency manager (who was the IC at the time) that a search was suspended and we could stand down while a CAP officer who had just arrived was calling out additional resources, including us, since he was assuming the IC role?  And what happens when a state (or federal) level agency doesn’t dispatch but requests your assistance through your business number instead of through your dispatch center?

 

Those of you who are sponsored by the Sheriff or the EMA, or some other government agency have it easy—the agency decides when and where you go.  Most of us aren’t sponsored or part of any public agency.  Many don’t have any legislated authority or mandates, even in those states where certification or licensure is required.

The important thing is that you volunteered for the job at some point and until you resign you have agreed to follow the rules and answer the call whenever it comes in.

 

Be professional about it.  Learn all you can learn. Practice your skills. Participate in discussions and correspond with your supporters, colleagues, and even those who are not as professional as you would like them to be. Amazingly, this works and it even works when you are laid up or otherwise limited in your ability to respond thanks to e-mail, cell phones, and flat rate plans.

 

Irv Lichtenstein