Mono County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team is cancelling recruitment for 2020. We will not be accepting applications, conducting interviews, or hosting our recruitment night (previously scheduled for 3/19/2020).

Our annual recruitment night consists of dozens of new people from all over the county, sitting in relatively close proximity for multiple hours as they meet team members and each other. They also tour the facilities and equipment. The interview process is another face-to-face procedure, putting our team members in close contact with members of the community.

This continues through the spring, with dozens-to-hundreds of hours of hands-on training with candidates working very close to each other.

The primary mission of MONOSAR is to assist people in our county. Putting community members in such close proximity during a pandemic is not compatible with that. Likewise, our team needs to stay effective for the complex and strenuous missions that have come to define our workload.

We have already received dozens of high quality applications from potential candidates. Every current team member went through the same recruitment process themselves previously, as such the decision to cancel was not taken lightly.

In regards to moving the 2020 recruitment period to later in the year, while possible, we simply do not have enough data to estimate when or if it would be prudent.

We understand many people were looking forward to this year and the team was very much looking forward to a new batch of strong candidates. This global health emergency is demanding changes across all peoples and all walks of life, and our team is no different.