In NH, if you are found negligent, they will charge you for S&R services. This was enacted after a few guys decided to attempt to climb Mt. Washington, in November, in jeans & light jackets, with backpacks filled with beer. Since then, they investigate all rescue efforts, and will bring those found negligent to justice. I have been on a couple of searches in NH, and its not easy terrain. So, they investigate every call after the fact.
The way it works as far as callouts in MA, is that the jurisdiction requiring S&R will call the state PD. They will then reach out to the S&R teams-theirs, and the civilians (our volunteer people). They coordinate, send out messages to the teams, telling them to stand by. If they decide to activate us, we gather wherever it it we are going. They have a headshed there-local crisis response, state PD, and our S&R crisis management team. They put together a plan, and execute. The S&R are all volunteers-the other teams are PD, FD, or otherwise paid. Volunteers have to take time out of work, and travel to wherever they are going-we are responsible for our own gear, food, and water (although, a HUGE help is the Red Cross-who always have shown up to whatever mission we have gone on, and provided both food AND water). This is something I dont think a lot of people (outside this forum, anyway) realize-S&R personnel are putting their own lives at risk, often volunteering (not being paid, or in any way compensated), to help someone in distress. A LOT of training is needed before you can be on a team in MA-and this training often is paid for by the volunteer. We do this because we WANT to-some of us have developed certain skills over the course of a lifetime that benefit search teams-this is why I used to do it. Regardless of what the outcome of the search was (most times, they are Alzheimers patients who wandered away, often found miles outside our zones), we did, and do, this, because it feels good to know that, in some way, you are helping someone else. It doesnt matter WHY they went missing-wandered away, mentally ill, or simply hasnt come home from hunting-we still go when called. Our job is simple-find the person. We have cops & FD on the teams to deal with legal or serious medical issues. Our job is to locate-they can handle the other stuff.