Letter to the Editor – Search and Rescue Coordination: An Emerging Profession

Matthew J. MitchellFounder and CEO, IASARC, www.iasarc.orgEmail info@iasarc.org https://doi.org/10.61618/PAID3355 If you were to assign a letter grade to humanity for its efforts in aiding people in distress, what would it be? Few would dispute that all people and nations have a fundamental moral obligation to assist those in need. Additionally, countries have an internationally recognized … Read more

First Approach to Implementing Search Theory in Mexico: Lessons Learned, Future Perspectives, and Public Policy Implications

Rafael López-Martínez1,2,3, Jorge Belmont4, Luis Gómez Negrete5, Rosalba Vences Peña5 Juan Alfonso Nicolás Martínez6, Elsa Flores Alarcón7 Institute of Geology. National Autonomous University of Mexico. Mexico. CP: 045102 Rescate al Día. SAR Training Center. Insurgentes Sur 3493, Mexico City. CP:140203 Brigada de Rescate del Socorro Alpino de México A.C. Mexico City, Mexico4 Collége Technique de … Read more

Letter to the Editor – Search assurance and human decision-making in SAR: Do current frameworks measure the right thing?

Mags Kelly MInSTRRES‑Q360™Email mags@res-q360.com, www.res-q360.com https://doi.org/10.61618/XUOM7451 Search & Rescue (SAR) has evolved through advances in technology, coordination and doctrine, alongside more formal approaches to search planning and assurance. Within that progress, an ongoing discussion is how assurance practice should balance evidence of process completion and analytic outputs with the quality of the human judgements that … Read more

Maximizing the Effectiveness of Search Effort in Land Search and Rescue: a Bayesian Priority Rating Approach

W. H. Finlay, PhDEdmonton Regional Search and Rescue AssociationEdmonton, Alberta, CanadaEmail: warren.finlay@ualberta.ca https://doi.org/10.61618/PEXK9532 Abstract Land search and rescue (LSAR) operations often require decisions to be made between competing search strategies. Basing such decisions solely on the probability of success does not allow consideration of differences in search effort (i.e. searcher hours expended) between competing strategies. … Read more

Sherlock Bayes: The Curious Case of the Vanishing Posterior

Surajit DuttaEmail ralopezm@geologia.unam.mx https://doi.org/10.61618/LLSH2304 Abstract Search and rescue (SAR) planning repeatedly confronts the same operational challenge: how to allocate limited search effort across sectors when information is incomplete and detection is imperfect. This paper presents a Bayesian decision-support framework for SAR tasking that maintains a spatial belief map over a discretized search region (interpretable as … Read more

Terrain, Terminology, and Insights: A Thematic Review of Conceptual and Spatial Reasoning in Land Search and Rescue New Zealand

Ed Cook, BSs; Aly Curd, MEmergMgtLand Search and Rescue New ZealandEmail terrainbasedprobability@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.61618/ZLHL6375 Abstract This study presents an empirical qualitative thematic analysis of SAR practitioner responses collected during a structured workshop-based assessment at the New Zealand Land Search and Rescue Hui (Conference) in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland. The workshop aimed at exploring Search and Rescue (SAR) … Read more

Editorial

https://doi.org/10.61618/JDKE7250 This issue of the Journal of Search and Rescue reflects a field increasingly concerned with the quality, transparency, and defensibility of decision-making under uncertainty. Across the contributions, a common thread emerges: search and rescue is not simply a matter of deploying effort, but of understanding where effort is most likely to matter, how confidence … Read more

Volume 9 Issue 1

https://doi.org/10.61618/SPRV2377 Editorial Newsome, A ORIGINAL RESEARCH Terrain, Terminology, and Insights: A Thematic Review of Conceptual and Spatial Reasoning in Land Search and Rescue New ZealandCook E, Curd AMaximizing the Effectiveness of Search Effort in Land Search and Rescue: a Bayesian Priority Rating ApproachFinlay WFirst Approach to Implementing Search Theory in Mexico: Lessons Learned, Future Perspectives, … Read more