HD45 - Administration Study: Study of Search and Rescue Efforts in the Commonwealth of Virginia


Executive Summary:
House Joint Resolution 185 of the 1998 Session of the General Assembly requests the Secretary of Public Safety to study Search and Rescue (SAR) efforts in the Commonwealth. This is to determine the appropriate level of funding therefore. The Secretary of Public Safety has directed the Virginia Department of Emergency Services (VDES) to be the lead agency for this study. The study focuses on response coordination and training for missing persons in ground search and rescue, in wilderness, rural, urban and suburban environments and the coordination of air search for missing person and aircraft. Disaster/Urban SAR, Trench/Technical Rescue, and Swift Water Rescue are specifically not addressed because their dispatch has not traditionally come under the supervision of the VDES or the general search and rescue community.