I was wondering whether they would pay my next speeding fine or my rent next month?
If you read the last post, then you know that I was called out as part of the Mountain rescue team, what you won’t know was essentially what I was involved in was a body recovery. I have an extremely controversial view point on this type of work that the rescue teams carry out. They certainly don’t represent the official stand point of the rescue team, however it my opinion so i will try and give it to you without upsetting either members of the rescue team or the families of the people we recover, a delicate line to tread.
There are possible three or more types of death that we deal with in the rescue team, natural causes (heart attack, stroke, etc…), Unnatural causes (suicides and Murder) and accidental death (falls and exposure). All require a large team of people, and specially trained MR personnel to deal with these Fatal Incidents Protocol, so that we can collect ‘evidence’ for the police. Last night was no difference, we took a reasonable amount of time filming and noting down what was on scene, as well as photographing everything in detail. Now the last time I was at a fatal incident my experience as a filmmaker, meant I got to film it. However last night I had to take the photos, as my experience a photographer meant I got to be a forensic photographer for the evening.
I have to admit that, on a unfamiliar camera, and shooting on film, meant that the images probably won’t be my best work. Besides the images are property of the North Wales Police (NWP). This is were I bear a bug, in that the police are responsible for maintaining a local resilience forum, that can deal with all type of emergency in any environment, so in north Wales the NWP have a responsibility to provide a mountain rescue solution. However, the NWP or any geographical constabulary are incapable of providing that service, so instead rely on voluntary teams to do the work for them.
Which mean that the NWP basically save themselves a fortune, what I would like to advocate is that we as a rescue team at the very least start invoicing the NWP for the body recovery and evidence gathering service the rescue team provide. If we take last nights incidence as an example, then it would have taken in excess of 44 man hours, which for the physical nature and special skills required of the work would definitely warrant £20 per hour, which would have cost the police £880, and that was before the cost of hiring out the rescue teams two specialist vehicles.