Skills

Working Together

Looking for Signs

The Rescue Squad fields 24 certified human trackers, trained to detect and follow human sign on the ground.

Human tracking is the act - some say the art - of recognizing, interpreting, and following the evidence of human passage on the ground.  This evidence can consist of compressed soil, damaged vegetation, etc.

On the Trail

St. Louis County Rescue Squad uses 3 types of dogs to assist with searching: trailing dogs, air-scenting dogs, and cadaver dogs.

Trailing dogs: Capable of following the scent of a specific person over long distances (up to several miles).  Depending on conditions, these dogs can often find that person even after several days have passed. To follow an individual, these dogs require a “scent article” to get them started. A scent article is a piece of gauze which has been placed on something which was last touched by the missing party. This can be a piece of clothing, the seat of a vehicle, or even a bed or pillow.

Air-Scenting Dogs: Trained to find and follow human scent, but are not capable of discriminating the specific scent of an individual, like a bloodhound can. These dogs are quite efficient at locating humans within a search area, they are estimated as being approximately 20 times more effective than a human searcher. Unfortunately, their inability to distinguish one individual from another sometimes limits their effectiveness in areas contaminated with lots of human activity. The dogs natural tendency is to follow the freshest human scent, which may or may not be the missing party.

Cadaver Dogs: Specifically trained to locate the scent of humans remains. They are used in situations where the missing subject is known or suspected to be deceased. They are able to detect human remains on land, buried, and underwater and are useful in detecting human remains from very recent deaths to deaths that occurred several decades ago, or possibly longer. K-9 Abe and K-9 Otter currently work with the St. Louis County Rescue Squad.  

Searching the Water

Through the combination of donations from local businesses and a federal grant, the Rescue Squad was able to purchase an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) in 2004. The ROV is basically a miniature submarine, controlled from the surface via a tether. The unit that was purchased is manufactured by VideoRay and has sonar, cameras, and lights attached. 

With the ROV they are able to search underwater without endangering the lives of divers. The SeaSprite scanning sonar allows the ROV to search an area more quickly than a diver, even in extremely low visibility conditions such as the Duluth Harbor.