As used in the Search and Rescue Act:

A. "search and rescue" or "SAR" means the employment, coordination and utilization of available resources and personnel in locating, relieving the distress and preserving the lives of and removing survivors from the site of a disaster, emergency or hazard to a place of safety in the case of lost, stranded, entrapped or injured persons;

B. "board" means the state search and rescue review board;

C. "AFRCC" means the air force rescue coordination center, which is the federal agency responsible for coordinating federal SAR activities within the inland region pursuant to the national search and rescue plan;

D. "state SAR control agency" means the department of public safety;

E. "state SAR mission initiator" means the New Mexico state police officer so appointed and SAR trained;

F. "state SAR resource officer" means the official located within the department of public safety responsible for coordinating SAR resources and administering the state SAR plan;

G. "field coordinator" means a person certified by the board with special training and expertise responsible for the efficient organization and conduction of a SAR mission;

H. "civil air patrol" means the civil air patrol division of the department of military affairs and an air force auxiliary responsible for coordinating air searches which are authorized by the AFRCC;

I. "mission" means each separate group effort in the employment, direction and guidance of personnel and facilities in searching for and rendering aid to persons lost or in distress;

J. "chief" means the chief of the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety; and

K. "director" means the director of the technical and emergency support division of the department of public safety.

History: 1978 Comp., § 24-15A-3, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 107, § 3; 1979, ch. 202, § 8; 1989, ch. 204, § 16.

Cross references. — For the public safety department, see Chapter 9, Article 19 NMSA 1978.

For the civil air patrol division, see Chapter 20, Article 7 NMSA 1978.