Team Training is ongoing. To maintain a minimum level of competency all team members must train in the Core Skills and attend a minimum quota of training – currently 50%. Team training occurs on one full Sunday and one Tuesday evening each month. There is also an opportunity to do extra training in more specialised areas such as Casualty Care. The core competencies tend to be MR related and not basic hill craft, such as navigation. The training emphasis for the Team is SEARCH. We cover a vast area, the largest team area in England, with a plethora of terrain and environments. The team is frequently used as a search resource by Northumbria Police. What the county lacks in mountainous peaks, such as those found in Scotland and the Lake District, it makes up for in its sheer areas of wild rolling hills, open and forested terrain, farmland and conurbation.

Training follows an agenda based on statistical data, Core Skills and Team requirements. Full members attend training as a matter of course. Trainee members attend the same training, but Full Membership is attained only after an acknowledged level of training has been achieved. The duration of Traineeship depends on attendance and the skills covered.