Obviously you're an experienced pro, so not much to add.

I do like those buffs. I tried one last year and I'm sold.

I'm curious about having SAR folks doing actual evidence collection at likely crime scenes. You know what you're doing, but usually that's an LEO or tech's job. Are you cross trained? Is the whole team?

The little AA sized ACR C Light is under $10 and does as a passable cheap 360 degree substitute for a real strobe. It's on my extra life vests. My Fenix AA light set to strobe with either the white or red diffuser wand has impressed me as a real attention-getter, too. I use it as a mini traffic wand daily.

That day/night flagging tape is a real find for me. (disaster medical team safety officer)

Thank you for your service.

Jeff,

Someone else asked about this and I PM'd the following:

Don't worry about collecting evidence. If you are helping on a SAR let the pros do it. It has been since 1995 that I could call myself a "pro". When I go help on SAR (mostly Alzheimer's folks), if I find a need for evidence collection I mark the area for scene protection and call for help. There are tons of issues about "chain-of-custody" and evidence contamination that can really screw up a criminal case. You don't want to mean well and find out it cost a piece of evidence to be inadmissible in a court of law.

Is that along the lines you were thinking of?

Called my surveyor. You will never believe where he found it originally . . . Lowe's Home Improvement in the same area with chalk lines, marking flags and other marking tape. Here I have been "procuring" it from him, he buys it at Lowe's and I am in there at least three times a week and walk right past it.

At my store it is near the contractor checkout on an end cap to the tool isle.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. It seemed like a waste to have valuable SAR resources tied up with too many additional tasks, training requirements, etc. unless your team was already composed of police officers. I don't recall ever working with a police department-based SAR team, so I was just curious and being nosey. My brother worked for a combined PD/FD and there aren't too many of those around, either.

I really admire you SAR folks, so often going out in the worst terrain and weather at the drop of a hat to help others, usually as unpaid volunteers.

I've been around the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue, e.g., earthquake-collapsed structures) folks some. I'm thinking of maybe getting into a SAR dog program when I retire from being a paramedic/firefighter.

Are you serious? Dang it… I ordered some of that online about two months ago. I’ll remember to just go to Lowe’s next time I need a refill.

Doh! Thanks!

Uh, I really wouldn't call my part SAR I am more of unskilled labor that knows how to walk thru the weeds. but thanks . . .

As someone who was previously in pretty fair shape in the past (emphasis on the past tense), you might want to add a few miles a day to the sprinting (not jogging). That dog will work you to death in a urban setting. Be ready to start out as unskilled labor and work up to the team allowing you and a dog in. At least that is what I have always heard is the case.

Much Luck

When we uncover a clue possibly related to the case we're working on, the team leader will report it to the command post (CP) and they will tell us what to do with it. We won't report 20-year old rusted beer cans but we will report anything of interest really. Even a cigarette butt can be an important item depending on the situation. If CP requests that we collect the item, we will pick it up with gloves, pack it up properly and take it back to the CP for further examination. If not, we'll ignore and keep going.

If for any reason the CP is temporarily unreachable using radios or even cell phones (can happen in extremely rugged terrain, valleys, etc.), the team leader will decide what to do with such findings.

If we really come upon a crime scene, the whole team knows what to do. We are trained accordingly by provincial police in line with the "provincial volunteer search and rescue program". For example, we will attempt to protect a crime scene from the elements in bad weather by deploying a tarp. That's just one example. I'm telling you... we really are what they call "unpaid professionals".

@Jeff_McCann: Thank you my friend. Most searches take place in the worst pouring rains or snow storms. Why? Because in these situations it becomes even more urgent to find a missing person (hypothermia becoming a real threat).

Nice Kit..

- One thing I do to save on weight is keep 2 bag's in the trunk. One with my normal kit that has the basics and a support kit that has all the extras. Generally our sar missions don't get us more then 1 / 2 miles from a road. But I've had missions go extended times. Or dunk myself in water.

- On the evidence, its good to be prepared to handle it. You never know when the tech's will say to handle it since they aren't walking the mile back into the woods to pick it up. With us, our big concern is scent collection for the K9 Unit. So some of our support people carry scent collection kits. Which are basically modified / basic evidence kits plus some sterile gauze and even more ziplocs.

just my .02. I'll post my kit one of these days.