Association of Lowland Search and Rescue (ALSAR)

[Robert Bradley]

One of the topics that often comes up on my SAR blog [ok - shameless plug, I know!] is ALSAR. More specifically what is ALSAR? and what should it do?

For those outside of Lowland Search in the UK, ALSAR describes itself as;

The Association of Lowland Search and Rescue (ALSAR) is a voluntary organisation dedicated to assisting the emergency services in the search for (vulnerable) missing persons.

A Search and Rescue volunteer is a person who, of their own free will, gives their time, effort and skill to lifesaving search and rescue operations without expectation of profit, and as part of an organisation recognised by the statutory authorities.

The ALSAR website goes on to explain;

The principal aims of the organisation are:

To promote and co-ordinate adequate search and rescue arrangements in the lowland areas of the United Kingdom and its offshore islands.
To assist and advise statutory bodies in lowland search and rescue work.
To promote and encourage discourse and co-operation between any and all search and rescue organisations in the United Kingdom.

In furtherance of these aims ALSAR is also active in developing and promoting standards of best practice for Lowland SAR units as well as providing help and guidance to new and/or developing units.

The big question(s) and debate is...

Does ALSAR achieve its aims?
What does it actually do / need to do to achieve these aims?
What else should ALSAR be doing?
And possibly, What should ALSAR not be doing?

For example,
What role does/should ALSAR play in setting standards for search (and/or training for search)?

This isn't actually one of its principle aims unless you loosely define adequate SAR arrangements.
And so on...

Here is the ideal place to voice your opinion.

[Kris]

This is a difficult one to answer without seeming to be overly critical.

As far as I can see ALSAR doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It's not a hindrance by any means it's just there, in the background and i'm not sure if we really know whats happening with it.

The website doesnt give anything away, again it's not bad but there's not much information on it that indicates where ALSAR is going or what it's doing. The meetings are fairly infrequent and so we have to rely on the minutes to really get a flavour of whats being discussed so that we can choose to get involved or not.

The chair of ALSAR commented on your blog that we all make ALSAR what it is (I'm paraphrasing of course) however without some information flow then this is difficult to achieve. Relying on team reps isnt enough when the gap between meetings is so large, we need regular updates on the website, some blogging from the top table team, a newsletter perhaps?

So, in summary ALSAR may be doing some great work in the background but we need more communication to know what is happening. More minutes on the website, more meat on the website.

To promote and co-ordinate adequate search and rescue arrangements in the lowland areas of the United Kingdom and its offshore islands

I'm not sure if it's ALSAR that really does this or its affiliated teams. For instance the recent move forward on Surrey was a result of Simon Jeffs work, not ALSARs.

To assist and advise statutory bodies in lowland search and rescue work

ALSAR sits on the UKSAR operators group and there are numerous references on the internet to Home Office briefings. HANSARD etc etc - Lots of good work going on here

To promote and encourage discourse and co-operation between any and all search and rescue organisations in the United Kingdom

The conference was an excellent start however there's been no update and a blank page on the website waiting to be filled. An opportunity lost if you ask me. I know that numbers werent as high as ALSAR wanted at the conference, but what motivation is there is attend the next one if the output from it drops into a black hole?

So, from my personal point of view I'd like to see much much much more communication from ALSAR. I'm sure there's lots of good stuff going on, it'd be nice to start hearing about it.

Kris

[Simon Jeffs]

I agree, and the ALSAR website was changed last year (or maybe the year before) to allow all committee members to add content. Perhaps the format is wrong or outdated with so many websites favouring more dynamic / social approach such as Rob Bradleys blog. However I do not think that the committee would be able to find the time on top of everything else to add articles. Additionally what else can be said? I took the content from the old site when I migrated it and tweaked it a little.

Minutes would be good but historically I only get a copy of the minutes of the previous meeting a week or so before the next meeting rather than within a day or two.

I have also requested that the format of the callout form be changed to incorporate ISRID (Rob Bradley variant) spreadsheet.

It would be nice to see what other ALSAR units are doing, which is why I added the twitter type feed on the right hand side. Equally looking at the MR website the news on the right hand side is a direct RSS feed from the BBC website so nothing to update but it does mean that older news articles are included.

[Kris]

Simon,

Could you get the missing 5 years worth of minutes and put them up?

Kris

[Simon Jeffs]

I have asked for them before and just before Christmas but i'm still waiting. Guess everyone is too busy at the moment.

[Kris]

Further discussion here: http://re-search.org.uk/2010/01/19/impr ... -part-two/

[Simon Jeffs]

I have just uploaded some more documents and minutes up to the members area of the ALSAR site.

Please logon to have a look.

[Simon Jeffs]

Some more documents have been uploaded to the ALSAR members area. Please note you will need an account approved by your unit contact which should be done as part of the approval process when you register.