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Introduction to Search Management

Developed as part of the National Emergency Services Curriculum Project

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Four Factors Making Emergency Response Necessary

• A lag in the alert of mission personnel– Limit your search area quickly

• The odds of a victim surviving as time goes on

• Size of the search area

• Available information– Information is fragile

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Matching Response with Need

• Are less than 6 hours of daylight left?

• Is the victim very young or old?

• Does the victim have a known or potential medical problem?

• Is there only one person involved?

• Are weather conditions bad now, or were they when the person, boat or aircraft went missing?

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Matching Response with Need Continued

• Was the victim poorly equipped to handle the environment - including the airworthiness of the aircraft or seaworthiness of the boat?

• Is the subject inexperienced in the environment and/or the local area?

• Are known hazardous conditions in the area?

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Matching Response with Need Continued

• Is the objective missing in an area in which there have been numerous SAR cases?

• Is the individual reasonably overdue, measured by standards normally used to determine that someone is overdue

• Does this search pass the SANITY CHECK?

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SAR Responsibility in the United States

• Navigable Waterways = USCG

• Single State, Land = Local Law Enforcement normally

• Single State, Aircraft = State OEM (Office of Emergency Management) or designee– Often CAP is the designee

• Multiple State Searches = AFRCC

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Primary Resources

• Air Force Units

• Coast Guard Units

• Mountain Rescue Association

• Civil Air Patrol

• Explorer SAR Teams

• National Park Service

• And other such agencies…

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Secondary Resources

• Red Cross

• Salvation Army

• Amateur Radio Emergency Service

• Local Law Enforcement

• Fire Departments

• Military

• And other such agencies…

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Search Planning

• Area of Possibility (AOP)

• Last Known Point (LKP)

• Point Last Seen (PLS)

• Probability of Area (POA)

• Probability of Detection (POD)

• Probability of Success (POS)

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Area of Possibility

• How far could the missing person or aircraft gotten from the point last scene using the available information?– Can be a rather large area– To many unknowns often make the worst case look

real bad

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Last Known Point

• LKP is the last spot at which we can definitely establish the victim’s presence by things like:– Radio reports– Telephone calls– Trail Logs– Physical information like the victims car or

equipment located

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Point Last Seen

• PLS is the spot anyone actually saw (Radar skin paint counts) the missing person/aircraft. PLS is established by witnesses.

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Probability Of Area (POA)

• A mathematical prioritization of search areas by the mission staff.

• Normally follow the Mattson Consensus

• A tool that incorporates the experience of mission staff.

• Basically an educated guess

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Probability Of Detection

• The percentage accuracy of searchers based on historical data.

– Trained searchers should have a higher POD than untrained searchers

– Relevant local data should supersede national historical data

– Searchers try to gain a high POD for a search area before closing a search

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Probability of Success

• POA x POD = POS

• Just a tool, remembering that not only is historical data used, but also the guesses of the mission staff.

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Information Gathering

• Be a good reporter. Answer the following– Who– What– When– Where– Why– How

• Play twenty questions (See Reference Text)

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How is information Gathered?

• Searching an area– Clues– Lack of Clues– De-briefing crews

• Interviews

• Good press relations

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Processing Information

• Information and Knowledge– Paper processing– Computer processing

• Map oriented or Tracking Programs

• Management Assistance programs– Formula or Number Crunching

– Personnel Tracking & Processing

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7 Steps to Start a Search

• Start a Log• Gain Cooperation

• Find out what has been done already

• Get control of the physical facilities

• Start posting information

• Get a grip on Search Strategy

• Plan for staff turnover and future operational periods

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Search Management Tasks

• Every task that a team leader, branch director, or incident staff member accomplishes can be related to search management.

• Remember that accuracy counts, and nothing found is still information found

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QUESTIONS?

THINK SAFETY!