SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A simple text message could save hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours of anxiety when police are searching for those lost on the land.

Wayne Goose, left, and Sally Esau use a GPS device to become environmental monitors in Sachs Harbour.

RCMP are encouraging travellers to carry a GPS system in order to prevent unnecessary and costly searches.

Billy Conley, an Inuvik resident who was rescued by helicopter in July after getting lost and running out of gas in the river channels between Aklavik and Inuvik, promptly acquired a GPS device upon his return.

"I agree that it's necessary," he said.

Conley was rescued shortly after a C-130 Hercules aircraft arrived from Winnipeg to assist with the search.

Staff Sgt. Cliff McKay with the Inuvik RCMP said some type of GPS device would have easily prevented the major search and rescue operation, in Conley's situation - which, McKay added, could have happened to anybody.

"Billy was lucky. He knows the river fairly well but he still managed to get lost," he said.

"If he would have had something like that, it probably would have saved a lot taxpayers' money and searchers' time, because if he would have had that device, we would've known exactly where to go and get him."

In mid-July, RCMP received a report that two men who'd been out whaling north of Paulatuk hadn't arrived at Brown's Harbour from Green's Island. The men arrived two hours later, but not before police got in touch with its Search and Rescue Division and planned to launch a rescue effort.

RCMP Const. Kevin Murphy of the Paulatuk detachment said they could have avoided concern by messaging someone. Though the boaters returned before an RCMP plane took off to find them, Murphy said an average search with a Hercules aircraft from Trenton, Ont., costs about $50,000 to $80,000.

Murphy recommends people carry a GPS system that can send text messages. A SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger is one such device which can send text messages that are routed to the closest emergency response systems or to personal contacts.

"The SPOT device is a rather new piece of technology. Not a lot of people are carrying them at the moment but they are a life-saving tool, for sure," Murphy said. "They're inexpensive, so I think they will catch on."

He hopes the Hamlet will help with publicizing the importance of the devices.

Hank Rogers, president of Inuvik's Hunters and Trappers Committee, said the HTC plans to give away some SPOT GPS devices and marine radios at its annual general meeting next June to try to increase awareness about the importance of communication while travelling in case of an emergency.

"It's necessary for people who don't know their way around the land," he said, adding he always carries a satellite phone just in case.

At the same time, he added, "we can't force everybody to get GPS. If people are going to get lost, they're going to get lost. We can't help it."

The SPOT devices are available at several stores in the NWT in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Norman Wells and Hay River. They cost approximately $170.

John Max Kudlak, president of Paulatuk hunters and trappers committee, said it'll be up to individual hunters as to whether they purchase the device.

"If they could hand them out, it'd be a lot easier on our membership because it is coming out of their own pockets," he said.

Though he's never used a GPS, he says he never travels without a radio. But he said he could understand why GPS systems are useful.

"If someone has a broken leg five miles from here and they can't do nothing. That would be good to help in an emergencies," he said, adding they're more useful in the winter when visibility is poor.

He said he's never tried a SPOT device and is one of the few people who still relies on traditional knowledge when he's out on the land. He said people should remember they don't replace traditional navigation skills, for instance knowledge about where ravines are or the best places to travel through.

In late March, RCMP were able to rescue an American sport hunter and his two guides after they used a SPOT device to send a 911 call to the dispatch centre that notified the local RCMP detachment. The helicopter searching for them was easily able to locate the hunters on the sea ice 130 km east of Paulatuk through the GPS co-ordinates.

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