On 2/20/24, the Bates County Sheriff’s Office held two separate class room sessions on Search and Rescue for the Sheriff’s Office and the Sheriff’s Posse. The class room portion covered education on search types, patterns, evidence identification, radio etiquette, and policies and procedures.
On 2/24/2024, the Sheriff’s Office held a mock Search and Rescue operations on the 100 acre Shaffer farm outside Spruce Mo. The Scenario was that there was a lost female who had been last seen on a UTV and failed to return. The UTV was located and the female was no where to be found.
The Sheriff’s Office put the training into a real life deployment. Members of the Bates County Sheriff’s Posse and Jackson County Jackson County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse teamed up along side of the Sheriff’s Office employees to conduct the search. The mobile command center with full dispatch capabilities was deployed along with other search and rescue equipment. The drones were deployed, the mounted posse was deployed, UTVs along with ground searchers began to search the wooded area. The “lost female” was quickly found by the drones then later by the horseback riders and ground searchers. After the “lost female” was located a secondary “call” came in about a younger sibling that had gone to help in the initial search was missing.
The scenario was intended to have many twist and turns with many failures built in to challenge the searchers. The challenges required volunteers and employees to work together to solve a multitude of issues while in the field. After the scenario was complete a complete debrief was held to garner input from all involved. Weaknesses and equipment needs were identified along with search styles that compliment the terrain and items that is being searched for.
“This was a large scale operation that required Patrol Staff, Dispatch, IT Department and Posse Members to be successful.” Says Sheriff Anderson. “This was great training and we were able to identify areas that we need to work on and identify the limitations of our volunteers and equipment. I am thankful for my staff and the volunteers who took a beautiful day out of their lives to train for the worst in our community. I look forward to many more trainings and to serve the community in which we live.”
We would like to Thank the Gerald Shaffer family for always being willing to help with training and the use of his hunting grounds. We would also like to Thank the Jackson County Posse Members for training with us and the relationship we have grown to have.
Bates County Sheriff’s Office Holds Classroom Sessions on Search and Rescue for Sheriff’s Office and Posse
