Write-up courtesy of Mason County Search and Rescue:
Fun SAR fact: we don’t just look for missing people. In fact, a large percentage of our searches are for evidence – often related to criminal cases that our members can’t discuss with anyone.
You see, when law enforcement needs to clear an area in a search for… well, just about anything, they can always count on volunteers from around the state to shelve their weekend plans and come out to simply do what needs doing. We’re trained in evidence collection, crime scene preservation, grid search tactics, equipment operation… you name it, we can do it. And we do it a lot, and well.
This weekend, volunteers from Mason, Kitsap, Thurston, Cowlitz and Clallam counties joined forces to assist our Grays Harbor County neighbors in searching a huge public area for evidence related to an ongoing criminal prosecution. Over two days we took several acres of western Washington brush all the way to the ground, digging through the detritus of daily life (cans, needles, bottles, discarded trash and trinkets) while doing our best to keep each other safe in the process. No injuries, smiles all around, and the citizens of Grays Harbor County well served by a crew they’ll likely never meet.
This is just one of the tasks your local Search and Rescue organization undertakes on a regular basis, and every member of that team is an unpaid volunteer. They depend on public support to do their work, so please keep all this in mind when considering where to spend your charitable dollars this holiday season.
Washington Explorer Search and Rescue - Kitsap Unit 