Correctional Officer Michael LaPlume decided to put his desire to help people and a desperate need to spend some of his time outside of the prison walls into developing the state’s first and only Correctional Officers Search and Rescue Team (COSAR).

“I figured it would be a good way to be outside and give back to the community,” said LaPlume.

LaPlume credits his co-worker Lieutenant Michael Reis with inspiring him to start the group. Reis leads Ocean State Search and Rescue, a dog rescue team, and has been a great inspiration to LaPlume.

“I talked to Lieutenant Reis and the idea just came out to use correctional officers for a search team,” said LaPlume.

The team is designed to assist in woodland searches for missing or lost children, Alzheimer’s patients, or even hikers and hunters who lose their way.

When LaPlume put the team together last year, he put out flyers and notifications, thinking he would get enough response to assemble a small team. Much to his surprise, LaPlume received 110 applications for the unit that would max out at 42.

He made his selections based on an interview process, during which he determined the commitment level and experience of the applicants.

“When I asked the officers why they wanted to join, a big reason was the fact that they have kids. They all said that if their kids went missing, they’d want a team like this looking for them,” said LaPlume.

Once the team was assembled, the officers went through a two-day search and rescue course with the Rhode Island State Police and another two-day course with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Association (RIEMA) on land navigation.

LaPlume has invested a significant amount of his own money and with help from the union and team members, they are now a fully functional unit. Each member winds up spending approximately $400 between equipment and uniforms.

“No one gets paid, they take a lot of days off, vacation days, and the department has been helping out greatly,” said LaPlume.

COSAR is a multi-agency group called Task Force Two (TF-2), led by state police. They are the only bump-line search team in the state made up of strictly personnel, no dogs.

A bump-line search is done with two members holding either end of a string and walking a straight line for the perimeter of a land section. They then turn on an invisible hinge and walk back along the lined area they just searched. Thereby making a complete grid of an area. That way they know exactly what areas they have searched and leave the string as marking points.

The team was activated last spring when a Gloucester police officer went missing. Unfortunately it turned out that the officer had taken his own life.

“We train, train, train and hope we never have to use it,” said LaPlume.

LaPlume says that one of the advantages his team has over civilian search teams is that they are all peace officers. COSAR has three medics, one nurse, two emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and a group of male and female officers ranging from two years on the job to over 30.

“We can all carry [arms], we all have the powers of arrest, they can use us for different things if they need to. We are a little more versatile,” said LaPlume.

COSAR is in the process of getting a tax-exempt status and LaPlume hopes that they will then be able to receive grant funding. LaPlume credits his assistant Steve Aceto with making the team what it is today.

“He has been a great help to me and done probably half the work. He has helped every step of the way,” said LaPlume.

The group is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and LaPlume says they are always ready for duty.