Who we are:
The Centre County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue (CCSOSAR), is a 100% volunteer team that operates under the direction of the Centre County Sheriff, Denny Nau. We are a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation and a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) Corporation under IRS code.
We are a specialized team under the South Central Mountain Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force (CTTF) and as such meet all State and Federal requirements.
We are a member of the Pennsylvania Search & Rescue Council and maintain the highest certified level of readiness. As a Level One team we are part of a network of 20 SAR teams in the Commonwealth with whom we have mutual aid agreements. A Level One team is required to maintain a command component with communications, medical, evacuation and management capabilities. If any situation would require additional resources including, dive, water, air, K-9 or manpower we could have certified teams responding with just one phone call.
CSOSAR has adopted the training standards of the National Association for Search & Rescue (NASAR) and Pennsylvania Search & Rescue Council (PSARC). Training is performed in-house and certification is performed through independent proctors. The basic field readiness (FTM/SARTECH 3) certification requires twenty-eight hours of classroom plus eight hours of practical instruction. The advanced (FTL/SARTECH 2) certification requires the basic certification plus twenty-four hours of classroom and four hours of practical instruction. All members must maintain current CPR, Basic First Aid and NIMS certifications.
What we do:
Search Management – We have the required staff, equipment, communications infrastructure, medical and evacuation kits, and base equipment to completely manage a wilderness search operation to the extent required by the requesting agency under NIMS.
Ground Search – We go out in a wilderness environment and comb through large areas in search of missing hunters, hikers, cyclists, etc. We also search urban areas for lost children, mentally challenged or Alzheimer subjects
K-9 – K9 search teams, usually one dog, one handler and sometimes a second person called a walker or flanker, are valuable resources during all operational phases of a missing person incident. Trailing or tracking teams can establish a direction of travel from the Last Known Point and many times lead searchers directly to the subject. Air scent teams can conduct hasty type searches quickly and efficiently, cover larger sectors as effectively as twenty ground searchers and search areas that are difficult or impossible to search by other methods, such as thick brush, swamps, junkyards, etc. K9 resources are very effective at night.
Currently CCSOSAR has one operational air scent K9 team. The K9 Unit team uses the NASAR Canine SARTECH level III (basic) or the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources K9 Specialist certification as a prerequisite for attaining operational status. A copy of our standards are available upon request. We never deploy uncertified, non-operational dog teams.
Local Volunteer Training – It has been our experience that when there is a lost subject, large numbers of members from the community show up to help. We can perform abbreviated training for these folks and get them out on task looking for the lost subject with one of our team leaders. This means less people standing around and more manpower dedicated to the mission. It also minimizes any negative impact from the media arising from dozens of volunteers standing around not being used.
Communications – Our communications infrastructure includes VHF, and UHF radios to communicate with PA State Police, Regional and Local Law Enforcement, 911 Centers, Life Flight, other SAR Teams, DCNR, Boaters in Distress, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, any CAP Aircraft, Ground Team or Land Station, and any HAM Radio Operator. We also have enough handheld radios for communicating between field teams and to our command post.
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