Doug Shaw wrote:MikeK wrote:You're right. And have no fear of them not checking out your vehicle; I used to be in LE (Denver). Believe me, in a situation in which your life may be in danger your car will be accessed with finesse if possible, and cracked open like a beer can if necessary. As our captain used to say, "Do what you have to do. We'll do the paperwork later."
Doug Shaw wrote:Just be aware that SAR or Sheriff's officers probably aren't going to break into your car just to read a note."
The word "probably" wasn't put into my opening sentence by accident. In 13 years in SAR, I never saw or heard about LE or SAR actively breaking into a subject's car. Of course I'm not omniscient, and that doesn't mean it can't or won't happen, but I stand by my assessment that it's
not very likely to happen in SAR incidents.
What LEOs do under their own independent direction is probably a little different than what they're inclined to do when they're working with a SAR team. Probably a Sheriff's SAR team liaison might get pulled into a "conversation" if a deputy popped a car and started rifling through it before SAR had a chance to get in to find scent articles for search dogs and to search the vehicle on their own for clues. (Again I'm speaking of a situation where the vehicle is known to belong to a missing person, and the local SAR team has been engaged.)
This wasn't meant to be a polemic; I was merely stating what law enforcement is in fact prepared to do, and does on a regular basis. If in your experience it wasn't typically done, that's because it wasn't necessary.
A number of years ago a missing girl was tracked for over 15 miles along a highway by sheriff's deputies, after being kidnapped in suburban metro Denver and driven into the foothills, where her body was found. Bloodhounds were able to follow her scent even though she was in a moving car (her mother had provided an item of clothing for the dogs to sniff). I was, at the time, astounded that dogs could do that, BTW.
You might wonder what point I'm making is. It's simply this: As I'm sure you know, law enforcement and SAR are on the same side, and searching for missing individuals -- usually for ones who don't particularly wish to be found, but often otherwise -- is something for which police and sheriff's deputies are highly trained; the bloodhounds' handlers were sheriff's deputies.
Search and Rescue in the mountains, on the ocean (I'm also former USCG(R), so ocean searches are not foreign to me), on the plains, or in any kind of wilderness area is a different kettle of fish than in an urban/suburban environment, but the principles are 4he same . No LEO that I ever knew would be obtuse enough to break into a car, willy-nilly, without regard for contamination of a possible source of information (olfactory or otherwise), or without a request from those leading the search. I would indeed expect an interesting discussion would ensue if such a thing occurred.
How'll they spend a dime if they don't know when? Think of all the resources wasted due to someone else thinking SAR was needed until told "A rescue is unwarranted, unwanted and will not be accepted." 
