After the conclusion of BSARD’s involvement in a Missing Person Incident and the teams have been sent home, a senior member of the team will compile and generate an After Action Report.
The report is intended to be a formal document explaining our involvement with the incident; why we were there, what tasks we performed, and what interpretive observations we made of our K9’s behavior. In some events we may point out extenuating factors that may have influenced the behavior.
The report is intended to be as “facts only” as possible. We do not speculate on what may or may not have happened to the missing person nor do we include any subjective opinions regarding how the search was conducted or who was involved.
An After Action Report typically contains the following information:
- BSARD’s Incident ID number (for reference) and the date(s) of our response.
- Whom the report is being prepared for and their organization.
- Who prepared the report.
- Which BSARD resources (Handlers, K9s, and any support or operations staff) responded and their roles.
- If we called in other volunteer SAR resources in a mutual assistance situation, we typically include those persons and K9s as well.
- A summary of the mission request and the scope of our involvement.
- A summary of activities performed by our resources for each Operational Period.
Depending on the availability of additional information, attachments to the report are also often provided. These attachments may include:
- An aerial view or map of the search area, often including overlays of the trails and/or areas covered by our teams. This map also often includes waypoints marking a particular activity or clue.
- Copies of task narratives from the handler(s) working the incident. These might be as simple as a print of an email, a copy of a written note, or as formal as a ICS Task Assignment Form.
- Copies of log forms used by BSARD’s command and control staff.
- Other documents as seem appropriate to illustrate BSARD’s involvement with the incident.