Search and Rescue operations: know your GPS navigators

We had a curious situation the other night. A driver left home and drove down some dirt tracks, following (the obviously wrong) directions his GPS navigator game him. Like I reported some time ago, these navigators sometimes include even horse trails as valid roads, and will try to take you down them if you’re not cautious.

Local Police Department received the call at 8pm, informing the driver was stuck in mud in an unknown location. He could see a railroad track which provided a first clue as to his whereabouts. Three units were dispatched to assist the officers searching for him. A while later, the control room talked with the driver directly, and he gave a set of coordinates that he managed to pull from his GPS navigator. We checked these but turned out to correspond to the point of departure (his home). The driver was found shortly after, before we could call him again and try to instruct him on how to get his actual coordinates from the GPS.

The main lesson learned from this: we are going to try and write a compendium of the steps needed to read the latitude and longitude from the most sold brands of GPS navigators. Looking back at some calls involving lost drivers or RTAs with undetermined location, such advice over the phone would have proven invaluable. I would recommend you study this protocol for your own departments, as one day you could find yourself in the situation where life depends on quickly finding a vehicle equipped with a GPS navigator.