Alpha Team K9 Search and Rescue, Inc., was formed to provide all of the skills and teamwork necessary to bring the best resources, K9’s and personnel to your Search and Rescue mission. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization providing immediate call-out status to the southeast United States.

Alpha Team is an advanced response team with the capabilities and willingness to respond to all types of search and rescue emergencies. Our teams can provide incident command, navigational support, radio operations, ground searchers, mantracking, and highly trained K9 search and rescue specialist teams for your urban, wilderness and water search operations. Our search team does not charge for its services and will respond at no cost for all types of search emergencies.

Click here for contact information.

Pictured above are ATSAR members Cheryl Knieriemen, KI4SWA, document unit leader; Paul Ruszczyk, KI4ADT, team treasurer; Barney, K9, search and rescue dog; Paula Chambers, KI4LGR, team president; Stuart Samples, KG4PFQ, training coordinator; and Susie Braswell, K9SPB Public Liaison.

Braswell, also a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) member, presented slides of her work with DMAT in Haiti following the January earthquake. “The room was very quiet during her presentation,” said Sandy Jackson, KJ4DRO, program manager. “Seeing the pictures does take your breath away.”

ATSAR members discussed the different types of K9s and their abilities, ATSAR and the challenges the team faces, typical search-and-rescue and communications equipment carried in the field, and some of ATSAR’s callouts. GARS members had lots of questions, and conversations extended out into St. Marguerite’s parking lot long after the meeting ended.

Click the thumbnail below to read the article written in the GARS newsletter about our visit.

“Reprinted with permission from the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society (www.gars.org).”

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A south Fulton County Alzheimer’s patient spent Friday recovering at home after spending the night alone in the woods.

Search and rescue volunteers found 70-year-old Gloria Hood just before 4 a.m. after she’d been missing for nearly 12 hours.

Channel 2 Action News cameras captured crews taking Hood to the hospital after she spent the night in the woods.

“It’s been hectic. It’s been draining. It’s been terrifying,” said her son, Brian Hood.

Hood said his mother has never wandered off before. “She’s a sweetie,” he said.

Police said Hood left her Reynolds Road home about 6:15 p.m. Thursday. Her disappearance prompted an all night search from the air and on the ground.

Fulton County police called in volunteers from a group called Alpha Team K-9 Search and Rescue and within 20 minutes, a German Shepherd named Clue located her.  For Hood’s family, her quick return brought quick relief.

Article at CNN.Com

• “Search and rescue dogs find murderer’s body” article at Examiner.Com
• “Zinkhan’s body found in grave he dug” article at AJC.Com
• “Awesome Work by Alpha Team K9 Search and Rescue” article at Boortz.Com
• “Zinkhan’s Body Found in Shallow Grave” video at MyFoxAtlanta.com
• “Crime Lab Confirms Body is Zinkhan” video at MyFoxAtlanta.com

Here is one of the more unique ones…. helping detect old burial sites !

Below is a link to the original article from the Avondale Burial Place Project Website:

http://www.newsouthassoc.com/avondale/Archaeology.html

Alpha Team is a highly capable, professional response team with the experience and willingness to respond to all types of search and rescue emergencies. Our teams can provide air scent and trailing dogs and handler teams, mantracking, incident command, navigational expertise, radio communications, ground searchers, and search and rescue specialist teams for your urban, wilderness and water search operations. Alpha Team K9 SAR (ATSAR) does not charge for its services and will respond at no cost for all types of search emergencies.

For emergency call-outs only, please contact:

Paula Chambers, ATSAR President

770-855-3633 (cell)

Click for additional team contact information

Click here to learn more about the National Alzheimer’s Association!

Georgia law enforcement officers now have one more reason to learn about Alzheimer’s disease: the dangers of wandering and the Alzheimer’s Association’s Safe Return Program.

As of this past October, officers will be able to receive continuing education credit for classes taught by chapter staff and certified volunteers. Safe Return Program directors and volunteers recently completed a special curriculum designed by Georgia Safe Return Coordinator Alice Hoffmann and approved by P.O.S.T., the Peace Officers Standards Training. P.O.S.T. is the continuing education credit that law enforcement officers are required to receive each year.“More law enforcement officers will be more willing to take this essential training now that they can receive credit for it,” Hoffmann said.“The law enforcement training is so crucial.”

A total of 14 people attended the Safe Return training seminar to become certified instructors. They are: Alice Hoffmann (Atlanta regional office), Laurie Parker (North Georgia regional office), Tracy Ford (Macon regional office), Nancy Goode (Albany regional office), Carrie Valentine (Augusta regional office), Jenny House (Savannah regional office), Paula Chambers (ATSAR), Susie Braswell (ATSAR), Kelli Jablonski (ATSAR), Pam Nyberg (ATSAR), Kathy Simpson (Volunteer), John Thames (Atlanta regional office), Vice President of Chapter Services and Public Policy Ginny Helms, Christina Semple (Atlanta regional office) and Sarah Carson (Atlanta regional office).

Safe Return earns a new Badge of Honor today since there have been more cases of missing persons with Alzheimer’s disease. Attendees will definitely find this training helpful in their day-to-day routines. The day-long seminar and “Train the Trainer” session included several wellknown speakers. Stuart Samples, the President of ATSAR (Alpha Team Search and Rescue), presented information on search and rescue techniques and when to call for a K-9 search team. He also did a short demonstration on how search dogs and team members work in unison. Private investigator and retired FBI agent, Harold Copus, outlined search strategies and talked about what each office needs to have readily available in the event of a missing person.

–Alzheimer’s Association’s Safe Return Program™