By Jason Bergreen
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright 2008 The Salt Lake Tribune
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SALT LAKE CITY — As the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office attempts to expand its search and rescue program to urban areas and attract new blood, veteran volunteers are quitting.
The rift centers partially around a proposal to train paid deputies to play a larger role in wilderness search and rescue (SAR) efforts.
Last week, 10 members, or one-third of the “volunteer mountain rescue team,” quit, said SAR vice commander Tom Moyer. Their resignation letters state, in part, that the inclusion of law enforcement and emergency responders not experienced in search and rescue techniques could compromise the safety of the team and those needing help.
“The proposed plan creates major safety concerns for me,” Moyer wrote in his March 4 letter of resignation. “It eliminates the volunteer mountain rescue team and replaces it with a branch of the Sheriff’s Office. The new organization still has positions for volunteers, but it has a law enforcement hierarchy . . .”
Sheriff Jim Winder said deputies who patrol the canyon need the additional rescue training so if they come across a car in the river, they don’t stand there “with jaw dropped.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Brent Atkinson, who is the division commander over SAR, said only nine of 40 SAR members have resigned.
He said the reorganization will not ignore the experience or knowledge of veteran personnel.
They are “still involved in the decision-making process,” he said.
The self-imposed exile started March 3 when six veteran volunteers submitted letters of resignation to Winder. According to Moyer, four more jumped ship by Friday.
“We have a lot of people that have very high skill levels that chose to remain,” Atkinson said.
But those who quit also accused the Sheriff’s Office of trying to change the structure of SAR by replacing “experience for obedience.”
The Sheriff’s Office’s vision “replaces the culture of a volunteer-led team with an organization where much of the decision making is shifted to people without rescue, backcountry, or volunteer experience,” wrote commander Steven Achelis, who resigned March 3.
“The model encourages a culture where rescuers are expected to accept rather than question orders. And it creates tremendous safety concerns.”
In several resignation letters, some volunteers hinted that the reorganization also could cost taxpayers more money.
Winder and Atkinson say rumors that the volunteer search-and-rescue team is evolving into a paid regime are false.
“There is no additional cost [incurred by the reorganization],” Atkinson said.
Atkinson said the sheriff’s plan to recruit 20 additional volunteers is meant to enlarge the team and encourage participation in suburban searches for missing people.
He described the changes as “tweaking and improving,” the program.
The core day-to-day functions of the SAR program will remain the same, Atkinson said."This is not a change in philosophy.”