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**What Lies Beneath: How to Set Up a Police Dive Unit**
 August 2019 | Volume 12 | Issue 7

Accidents, crime, and terrorism don’t stop at the water’s  edge. Vehicles go off the road and people fall off docks. Criminals hide  evidence, stolen cars, illegal drugs, weapons, and even victims under the water. 

As a result, many agencies near the water have marine units  with dive or underwater search and recovery teams. In large cities and ports,  the divers may be full-time or marine unit officers who work under the  authority of municipal, county, state, or federal agencies, often teamed with  fire, rescue, and emergency medical services. 

 In smaller departments, dive teams are usually staffed by  civilians or volunteer officers from other units, or are joint operations in  their state or county. In addition to sharing personnel and resources with  other agencies and emergency responders, these teams often work together to  provide regional service.  
 Collaborative  Missions and Volunteer Divers*Dive Unit Operations*- Search and rescue
- Evidence collection 
- Flood operations,
- Current diving
- Hull/pier sweeps
- Swift water
- Salvage/lift operations
- Hazmat diving
- Sonar operations 
- ROV operations
- Ice operations

One example of a county-wide joint operation is the Pierce County Metro Dive  Team of Tacoma, Washington. A collaborative operation comprising members of  the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the Tacoma Police Department, and the  nearby Lakewood Police Department, all of the divers serve on a voluntary basis  as an extra duty assignment.

They are trained in a wide range of diving activities, including  hull/pier sweeps, salvage ops, hazmat handling, sonar, evidence collection,  body recoveries, and ice operations. All dive team members are also trained for  swift water operations.  

 According to Dive Team Commander Micah Lundborg, the  sheriff's department has also trained firefighters, search and rescue personnel,  and other volunteers to the same standard as its own deputies. So when a call  goes out for a swift water rescue, the response team includes those personnel as  well as the dive team, along with search and rescue coordinators, and boat  operators. 

 In other states, police departments and sheriff’s offices  without their own units may rely on services such as the Maryland  State Police Underwater Recovery Team (MSP URT), which assists local law enforcement  with services such as evidence collection, security perimeter scans, and body  recovery. Police departments in Texas can train their own people with the help  of the Dallas Underwater Recovery Team (DURT). 
 Black, Cold Water  Conditions
 Public safety and police divers work in hazardous  environments, often at night with little to no visibility and frigid conditions.  Their dive locations can run the gamut from oceans to sewers.

 Says Lundborg, “It takes a certain mindset. And even those  who can dive recreationally may not be able to work in this environment because  of physical and mental limitations.” His agency requires annual physicals with  chest x-rays, and all divers must meet the requirements of the International  Association of Dive Rescue Specialists guidelines.
 Training Resources*What It Takes*
In addition to diving basics, public safety divers get  specialized training for hazards, risk assessment, dive planning, search  procedures and techniques, diving in zero visibility, using metal detectors,  sonar, full-face masks, communication systems, surface-supplied air, dry suits,  lift bags, decontamination and more. Law enforcement divers must also learn how  to recover and handle evidence so that it can be presented in court and  supported by their testimony.

Many agencies rely on volunteer Public Safety Divers (PSD) who  are trained for hazards and zero-visibility conditions, though not necessarily  versed in law enforcement protocols for evidence collection. Other agencies may  rely on their own people who are open water certified, but don’t have zero-visibility  experience.         
Law enforcement divers can get PSD training through organizations  such as the  National Academy of Police Diving (NAPD). Formed in 1988 by a group of  police divers to create a national standard for police and public safety diver  training and certification, the NAPD trains divers in basic skills as well as  areas such as crime scene photography, recovery techniques, and dive scene  management. 

 According to Jordan Harvell, Executive Director of the NAPD,  agencies often come to organizations such as his for training because they  don’t have teaching experience and want to prevent deaths or injuries due to  inadequate training. 

 Though the way the NAPD works with different departments  varies according to need, their instructors always train on site in the  agency’s own unique water environment. “You have to train and test divers in situations  like those they will work in. NAPD tests them in their environment in zero  visibility.” 
 Making the Case for a  Team
 Though agencies may see the need, making a good case for  starting a dive team is important. According to Harvell, a motivation for some  agencies near water is the legal challenges they can face if they don’t have  the ability to respond to incidents with search and recovery capabilities.  

 “But the best way to sell it to management is to promote it  as a rescue team, even though the most common operation is salvaging cars  accidentally or deliberately submerged. Most importantly, these teams are  essential to finding evidence no other unit can.” 

 “For instance, while working a case searching for a gun used  in a homicide, I found just the barrel in the mud. But that was enough for the  crime lab, which confirmed through ballistics that it came from the gun used in  the shooting.” 

 Says Lundborg, “You never know what you’re going to find  under the water. About 20 years ago, before my time, one of our divers found a  bucket full of concrete which he thought was an anchor—but there was a head  inside.” 
 Funding Sources 
 Though dive teams perform a very valuable service, the cost  can be a challenge in small municipalities. According to Commander Lundborg, “It’s  a low frequency response team with a lot of risk, and you can run into problems  in terms of liability. Training is key to avoiding that and keeping people  safe. Your equipment must be good too, and all of this can be expensive. “ 

Says Jordan Harvell, “Often, the police see a need for  divers, but administration can’t justify the expense. However, you don’t need a  huge team. Miami-Dade has run their department with just five or six people for  20 years and they respond to more calls than other divers in the country.”   

 To bring costs down, some agencies rely on volunteer teams,  contract services out, or develop joint teams with other agencies. If the team  is working on navigable waterways or ports, the agency may also be able to get federal  grant money for national security services, such as conducting pier and port  sweeps for explosives.  

 Community fund raising efforts can be very helpful, and grants  from companies such as Walmart and Costco are also available. Dive Rescue International has a list of possible funding sources on their web site. To keep expenses down,  an agency can sometimes find discounts from equipment manufacturers and purchase  surplus or used equipment.
 A Critical Year Round  Detail
 But even given the challenges, dive units will continue to  be an essential component of many agencies. Drivers will continue to forget to  set parking brakes on ferries, criminals will toss guns off bridges, cell  phones will fall overboard, skaters will go through the ice, and selfie-taking  tourists will take one step too many on docks. And these divers will be there in  all weather and conditions to find, rescue, and collect them. 

 Faye Elkins          Sr. Technical Writer 

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The Community Policing Dispatch is the e-newsletter of the COPS Office. 

The Community Policing Dispatch is the e-newsletter of the COPS Office. 

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