By Jill Slater

Search and Rescue Regina chapter shut down by provincial association

Sep 29, 2014 | 7:24 AM

They were called on when Tamra Keepness, Tara-Lyn Poorman and Brandy Wesaquate each went missing, but if a major search for a missing person gets underway in Regina anytime soon, it won’t be local Search and Rescue volunteers helping out. Search and Rescue Regina (SARR) has been deactivated.

President of Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers (SARSAV) Justin Capp sent a letter to Regina volunteers notifying them the chapter had been shut down earlier this month. Details are scarce as to why.

“The matter before us with SARR is confidential as there is currently an investigation surrounding a complaint of internal irregularities, and as such I am unable to speak further on the matter at this time,” wrote Capp in a statement to CJME.

SARSAV works with local police agencies, RCMP and the ministry of justice in Saskatchewan. A manager with the ministry says RCMP used SARR as recently as this spring.

“It’s concerning because we’ve lost a number of very professional volunteers from an important organization,” said Hugh McLaughlan, a program manager for policy and governance in the ministry of justice.

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“They train very professionally and very extensively, and it is important to have access to, I call them professional volunteers. These are people that actually know what they’re doing. The difference then is spontaneous volunteers, people that show up and really want to help. That happens in a lot of communities, smaller communities in particular. Somebody goes missing, local volunteers really want to help, but they don’t really know what to do,” said McLaughlan.

The Regina Police Service says there are contingency plans in place in the case of a major search in the city.

“We hope to never have to (call on SARR), but we do get about 1300 missing persons cases every year and they don’t always lead to a search and rescue mission,” said Les Parker, media development officer with the Regina Police Service.

There are several other chapters in the province that could be called on in the case of an emergency. The SARSAV website lists 13 locations including Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, but the Regina chapter has been removed from the website.

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