HAY RIVER - A search and rescue operation would be a rarity if people used some common sense when travelling on the NWT's land and water.

So says Jack Kruger, the co-ordinator of search and rescue with the RCMP's 'G' Division.

Jack Kruger is the search and rescue co-ordinator for the RCMP's 'G' Division, which includes all of the NWT. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Kruger, who is based in Hay River, said better preparation by travellers could prevent them from getting lost in the first place, thereby saving the public up to $150,000-$200,000 for a search involving multiple aircraft.

However, he is not optimistic people will change their ways anytime soon.

News/North: How many people do you actually have to go out and rescue each year?

Jack Kruger: In 2006, we co-ordinated 70 searches in the Northwest Territories. This year since the first of January, we have done 27 searches.

N/N: What can people do to reduce their chances of getting lost on the land?

J.K.: Leave a trip plan. Go where you say you're going to go. Take a form of communication with you, a satellite phone. In Tuktoyaktuk, they use cell phones and they work quite well. If you're going on the water, take a marine VHF radio, or some form of communication that's reliable. Plus, take your usual survival gear, GPS, charts maps, flares, food, etc. Communication clearly is the big one.

N/N: From what you just listed, how many people actually do that?

J.K.: Actually, we're seeing more and more doing it. The ones that do it on a regular basis are the visitors to the territories, not the locals.

N/N: Why is that?

J.K.: I suggest people who live in the North, myself included, take things for granted much more than the people who come up to experience the North. They come up much better prepared than most of the people in the territories.

N/N: Of all searches, how many would have been for visitors as opposed to residents?

J.K.: This year to date, none. Last year, I'd have to go through them, but it was a very low percentage.

This year out of 27, they're all from the territories. There's nobody from outside the territories.

N/N: Why do so many people not take precautions?

J.K.: A lot of people feel because they live in the territories, they will not get into trouble if they know where they're going, and in most cases that's not correct.

N/N: Is it overconfidence?

J.K.: It's as simple as that. It's overconfidence. It's ego. It's alcohol in a lot of cases. But it's primarily ego - "I can't get lost. I know the land. I know where I'm going."

And they break down and they don't know where they are. They have no methods of survival.

N/N: How frustrating is that for search and rescue personnel?

J.K.: It is extremely frustrating, especially the repetitive nature where time after time after time it's the same formula and nobody really seems to learn. In fact, we've had the same people from the same areas getting lost several times.

N/N: If people took precautions, how many of the searches could be prevented?

J.K.: Probably about 99 per cent of them. If you had the proper communications, you could be lost, but you could tell us the situation, you could give us indications of where you are, and we would go and find you.

N/N: Do the number of searches change with the seasons?

J.K.: The summer is much busier than the winter, because it allows a lot of people who perhaps are kept in because of the cold and don't get the chance to go out and get lost.... More people are on the land and more people have recreational boats who really don't have a working knowledge of those vessels or navigation or the lake or communications.

N/N: What are some of the dumbest reasons people have gotten lost?

J.K.: I can go back to a number of years ago. One was when a fellow in a vessel came out of a bay - I won't mention the place - and in looking at his GPS he systematically deleted all his way points because he didn't know how to deal with the GPS and he went completely in the opposite direction. One of the most bizarre ones was two people on a snow machine last winter travelling between two centres. Alcohol was involved. They got in a fight and one threw the other fellow off into the snow and took off in 40 below weather, and left him laying in the snow. Fortunately, we found him.

N/N: Should people be fined or charged for not taking precautions?

J.K.: If you're asking for my opinion, yes they should. It will never come to happen in Canada.... How do you collect? How do charge people from Germany or how do you charge people who can't afford to pay? We're in the business of saving lives, not collecting stuff.

N/N: Are people ever going to learn to be more safety conscious?

J.K.: I'm optimistic, and God knows there are enough people out there trying. I mean the territorial government, the RCMP, the Coast Guard and the military are all trying. Safe boating and safe this and safe that.... I would like to think it's going to happen and I applaud those who are trying to do it, but it's not something I expect next Wednesday, I can tell you that.