BAASS MUFON 4
Every
sighting report was categorized based on a set of criteria and protocols that
was established at the onset of the program. These protocols were fine tuned
after several months with the help of our friends at BAASS.
Dispatchers also verified the witness contact information on all incoming
cases, which was a first for MUFON. They would actually contact every new
witness and validate the witness contact information and believability. In many
cases they would have discussions with the witness to clarify the details of
the narrative. A lot of very specialized training was done with the
dispatchers on an ongoing basis.
Another
first was the establishment of a paid operations manager position (full time
employee). The operations manager made all arrangements for airline travel, car
rental, hotel rooms, meals and equipment, plus everything was paid for up front
and each investigator was issued a Visa money card so they had no out of pocket
expenses.
Investigators were paid $100.00 per day for their time and $40.00 a day per diem for meals, plus the cost of all airline travel, rental cars, and hotel accommodations. The local State Coordinators were also paid $50.00 per case to help coordinate the investigation on the local level.
Two part-time research assistants were also hired to work on any special research as was needed and later in the SIP program a full time public relations person was hired to promote the SIP program and MUFON. They were also paid out of the SIP Project funds from BAASS.
A scheduling system, which was all virtual (web based), contained information about each investigator on stand-by, specifically listing their availability times, areas they were able to travel, and it was organized by geographic location. The Dispatchers were also on ShiftBoards.