Learn More About Our Mission, Services, and How You Can Help

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Alabama Search and Rescue (ALSAR) is a quasi-public volunteer organization dedicated to searching for endangered missing persons in Alabama. We specialize in bloodhound scent discrimination trailing teams and technical rescue operations, providing assistance to public safety agencies upon request.
 

ALSAR team members are certified to National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) SARTECH III or higher standards. Our bloodhounds are trained to NASAR Canine SARTECH Trailing I standards. Additionally, all members are certified in First Aid/BLS, FEMA NIMS 100, 200, 700, and SARTECH 3. Team leaders also hold SARTECH 2 and Wilderness First Responder certifications. 

Have your local AHJ (authority-having-jurisdiction) contact us at 1-205-206-9463. This is whoever is in charge of the missing persons investigation; local police, sheriff, state police, EMA, etc.. 

• We will work with any public-safety agency in the State of Alabama.
• We have also helped out a few adjourning jurisdictions in Georgia and Tennessee.
• We have automatic-aid MOUs with several jurisdictions in Alabama.

Our Search and Rescue coverage area is the Great State of Alabama.

ALSAR provides various search and rescue services, including:

• Bloodhound scent discrimination K9 trailing teams
• Human Remains Detection (HRD) Cadaver K9s
• Search and recovery divers
• Technical rescue operations

We can track specific individuals in all types of weather and conditions, day or night.

You can support ALSAR by:

1. Donating: Your financial contributions help us maintain and improve our search and rescue operations. Visit our donations page to make a contribution.
2. Volunteering: Join our dedicated team of volunteers and make a difference in your community. Visit our volunteer page for more information.
3. Spreading the word: Share our mission and services with your friends, family, and social media networks to help raise awareness.

To become a volunteer, visit our volunteer page for detailed information on the application process, requirements, and training programs. 

ALSAR ensures operational readiness through continuous training, maintaining up-to-date certifications, and regular equipment maintenance. Our team members participate in ongoing training exercises and courses to stay prepared for any emergency. 

Yes, ALSAR offers educational programs, workshops, and demonstrations to raise awareness about search and rescue operations and safety measures. Visit our events and courses page to learn more about upcoming opportunities.
 

• Tracking / Trailing: Our Bloodhounds can locate a specific person based on their individual scent. Trailing dogs are trained to follow a specific human scent, which may or may not approximate the path the person took because of factors affecting the dispersal of scent such as wind and temperature. To start the dog is started on the trail at the point where the victim was last seen (PLS). Trailing dogs will follow the route of scent deposited on the ground as a person moves through an area. A trained trailing dog can follow the steps of someone who passed by several days earlier, discriminate between it and another's trail, and follow it over hills and through marshland. Dogs can even trail people in cars, from the scent that blows out of the window or through the vents of the car.  
• Airscent:  Airscent usually refers to search dogs that use airscenting techniques to search areas. Airscent dogs work with their nose in the air, will ignore ground scent and will follow and locate people by catching the "hot" scent of people on the wind. Airscenting techniques are very effective for covering large areas quickly and can produce high probabilities of detection if conditions are good for airscenting. They don't need a "last seen" starting point, an article to work from or a scent trail, and time is not an issue. Some airscenting dogs are also trained to scent discriminate, meaning they can be pre-scented on an article from the missing persons and can pick this person from others in the search area. Airscent dogs usually work off lead. Most are trained to find the victim, alert the handler when the victim has been found, and the return the handler to the victim. This is called a refind. 
• Cadaver / Human Remains Detection: Cadaver or HRD dogs are used to locate the remains of deceased victims. Cadaver dogs can locate entire bodies (including those buried or submerged), decomposed bodies, body fragments (including blood, tissues, hair, and bones), or skeletal remains; the capability of the dog is dependent upon its training. 
• Disaster: Disaster work is a variation of airscent work. It combines the dog's ability to find a person with special training required to work in disaster conditions, including collapsed buildings, mudslides, earthquakes, and floods. The disaster trained dog and handler spend a lot of time training control of the dog and directional control, so that the handler can send the dog onto rubble piles to perform closer searchers. Both dog and handler undergo extra training for searching on unstable and dangerous surfaces. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a national program for disaster trained and certified dogs. 
•  Water Dogs:  Water dogs are trained to pick up scent in the water and alert their handler when they find that scent. Similar to picking up scent in snow, the scent rises up to the surface in the water. Cadaver dogs, also trained as water dogs, can be useful in drowning situations.  

Source: https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/missing/findthem/docs/Types%20of%20Search%20Dogs.pdf