Search and Rescue Team - Why Bother?

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Aug 07, 2024, 10:00 ET

Why do they need our support… doesn't law enforcement handle that?

DALLAS, Aug. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Here in North Central Texas the Search and Rescue (SAR) function is different than that of some other states where similar teams are involved in dramatic rescue operations for victims lost and/or injured in extreme terrain. Here, our extreme terrain consists of sprawling urban development, endless highways lined with high rise commercial buildings and only sprinkled with the occasional public park or greenbelt. While that description might be a little on the extreme side, it does help paint the picture that we are not typically operating in a wilderness environment, even though within our response area there is plenty of rural land and heavily wooded properties where people go missing.

Specially trained dogs are often key to the success of a SAR team.

So that begs the question why bother with a search and rescue team? Can law enforcement not easily find a lost or missing person inside a highly urbanized area? After 41 years in the SAR world plus many years in law enforcement as well, I can tell you that search and rescue teams operating in this type of environment are equally as critical as any other. Here are just a couple examples from our recent call logs to help illustrate the nature of a typical mission… both of which have been within the last 30 days…

67-year-old female advanced Alzheimer's patient suffering from delusions of a boyfriend she was to meet. Walked away from her home at approximately 0430 hours and the family was unable to locate her. Local police used patrol officers, drone units, and a state police helicopter but had been unable to locate the victim. Our team deployed a Bloodhound approximately five hours after her departure. The dog was able to pick up her trail and followed it through her neighborhood, into heavy woods, out and along a rural roadway and eventually to a gas well access road where she was located approximately 1.2 miles from home. She was face down in a ditch and unresponsive to verbal contact. She was eventually roused by team members and stabilized till Paramedics arrived.
18-year-old Autistic male missing and endangered from rural residence. The subject had attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the neck and then left his residence while the family was not at home. The terrain around his home was heavy woods with areas of dense brush and trash that were impenetrable by ground teams. Again, family, neighbors, patrol units and drone teams had not been able to locate the subject prior to our arrival. Our Bloodhound team picked up his trail and followed it till they were no longer able to maneuver though the brush. But based on what that team had done another dog team was deployed on the opposite side of the wooded area and the subject was located walking out of the woods. He had a large wound in his neck but had not lost a significant amount of blood. The team was able to stabilize the victim, bandage his wound and standby for paramedics.

It is likely that neither of these subjects would have survived long term had it not been for the efforts of a team like ours. In that same period of time, we fielded an additional fifteen calls for service ranging from other Alzheimer's subjects to teen run-away's, all of which were inside this densely populated urban spawl of over eight million people.

Search and rescue teams like ours are located in various types of environments and may serve in various types of capacities but they all have one thing in common. They are all committed to assisting governmental agencies locate the lost and missing. You are encouraged to support them any way you can… financially, becoming a member, advocating for their recognition, being a volunteer victim for their training, or in whatever way you can help to further that mission of finding lost and missing persons.

About Search One Rescue Team:
As a 501 (c)3 organization the team is based in North Central Texas serving all of Texas and Southern Oklahoma. The organization's mission statement is "to assist governmental agencies locate lost and missing persons". That mission is accomplished with specially trained Search and Rescue dogs and search personnel using the latest in ground search technology. There is never a charge to the end user and the team is fully self-contained placing no burden on the requesting agency. The organization is funded only through grants and donations from the communities they serve.