Mounted search and rescue

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

This is a procedural call between you and the LE. The route dump should be done during task debrief, not after the mission is over.  Each field task that is tracking itself by GPS should make the GPS breadcrumbs part of the task debrief—“We went here, saw this,” is the essence of the debrief.  This allows plans and operations to plan the next task cycle.  Once the material is downloaded and printed there should be no need for the device to be held, unless questions as to its accuracy are raised. 

Again, a tool is only as good as the craftsman using it and all devices you rely on to measure with should be calibrated regularly and the calibration record maintained.

If the material has to be presented to a jury both sides are going to hire presentation artists to make the displays, and it is highly unlikely you and your phone will go to court over a GPS route on a search.  If a cop wants your phone—tell him to get a warrant and give you a receipt for the phone or device and the data so he can use it in court and not lose what he wants at a suppression hearing because he didn’t have probable cause.

What really PO’s a cop is that the content of the phone is your property and you can sell it to TMZ and he can’t.

As to erasure after each run, check on record retention in your area.  Again, it is your relationship, both professional and legal, with the LEO that governs whether you are

required to keep records and for how long. 

As an NGO providing planning and operation section support to the local IC we give the IC the paperwork each cycle to archive as they see fit, and such supporting data and evidence as we develop during the field work. 

Irv Lichtenstein

SE PA SAR  

 

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From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Joseph C. Huston
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 10:04 AM
To: Mounted search and rescue
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Pictures

 

On our searches, we use GPS devices to track our routes. These routes are then compiled, put on a full color Google map and given to the LE department coordinating the operations. Sometimes the GPS functions on phones are used instead of individual devices. I would guess both devices could be seized, correct? What about the computer the tracks are down loaded to? I typically erase my tracks from my GPS device (or phone) once the mission is completed.

 

Joseph C. Huston