My SAR team is 100% volunteer and 100% self-supported. We get money from membership dues, individual and corporate donations. Zero taxpayer dollars. We volunteers take care of our own meals, unless an auxiliary or church group steps up during a big search and serves food, which happens. Hotels? Sometimes the group will cover, or work something out with a local hotel, depending on the situation. More often, we're sleeping in our uniforms in fire stations, armories or in our cars. If it's wilderness, we might have a place for a tent. We pay 100% for our own personal equipment, and the team pays for some expensive shared rescue and training equipment. I just wanted to paint that picture for you -- not all SAR groups cost taxpayer dollars, and all volunteer groups that I know of in the mid-Atlantic are structured this way.
And yes, I do take it personally when these resources are squandered because someone didn't tell the truth about how someone ended up missing. When dozens of SAR volunteers abandon their jobs, spend gas/food/lodging money and risk their lives to find a kid for several days, only to find that the parent disposed of the child, or something similar, yes, I take it personally. I know I'm not supposed to -- I volunteered for this, it's part of the reality of the service that we provide, but I do. And yes, I would support something in sentencing to repay those agencies and volunteers.
Has anyone ever run statistics on resolved cases here? I'd really like to see the percentage of cases where the responsible party is the one who reported the victim(s) missing, vs outsiders and unknown.
Sorry, rant over.
