DOkie
Guest
Had an interesting weekend. Long story short. A gentleman in this area decided to commit suicide by jumping off of the breakwall and into 37 degree water at 2:30 in the morning. (Left a note, cameras seen him headed that way, etc. etc. etc.)
My problem began when the LDS contacted us and asked us to do some diving to look for this gentleman. Didn't think much of it, and three of us took a ride to go diving. Got to the marina and the gentlemans brother was there. He was extremely distraught as he'd been there every day for two weeks looking for his brother. He didn't know who to contact for divers, etc. etc. etc. Told him we would do what we could and entered the water. Visability was pretty good (3-4 feet), no weeds, and found the body within 15 minutes of diving. Came back up and called the police.
Here's where the fun begins. Within minutes, numerous cops show up, stringing tape, blocking off roads, notepads out, radios going, blah blah blah. It didn't take long to become absolutely disgusted with the situation. Evidently, the Sheriff's Department dive team claimed that they had Side Scan Sonared the area but the weeds were causing problems in viewing (again, did I say there were NO weeds?). When I asked why they didn't go in to look for the body, I was told that the water temp and conditions were not favorable for diving (???) I was also told that they were just waiting for the body to float up sooner or later. Wish I could say that this was the end of it (because I was fuming by now) but I had to listen to the officers tell the family that showed up "you're going to want to take off because it's going to be at least 4-5 hours before we get this guy out". From then on it went like this... Who has a body bag, don't you have a body bag, where do we find a body bag.... Who's going to go in and get him out, we can't go in and get him out, you can't go in and get him out, how do we get him out.... FINALLY the Sheriff's Department Dive Team shows up and their worry is "is he bouyed?" (Yes he was and we even tied him to the breakwater wall so he would get caught in the surge again). "So all we have to do is follow the line down"?
Now that I've vented... I know that there are good dive teams out there so please don't get me wrong, but if a dive team is this incapable, why don't they allow local divers to join and help them out? I've been told it's because of a federal funding issue. I mean they all have really pretty suits, but they take 45 minutes to get them on! What if there was a child that fell through the ice? They KNEW he was there! They KNEW where he jumped off! Why did they not go in and get him? My only thought is that 1. They didn't want to dive in the conditions or 2. He wasn't important enough to go in for. Either way....
To top it all off, the newspaper praised the dive team for their weeks of searching for this gentleman! Unbelievable! I am not by any means looking for praise, I'm just hoping someone more familiar with these situations can shed some light on this for me.
My problem began when the LDS contacted us and asked us to do some diving to look for this gentleman. Didn't think much of it, and three of us took a ride to go diving. Got to the marina and the gentlemans brother was there. He was extremely distraught as he'd been there every day for two weeks looking for his brother. He didn't know who to contact for divers, etc. etc. etc. Told him we would do what we could and entered the water. Visability was pretty good (3-4 feet), no weeds, and found the body within 15 minutes of diving. Came back up and called the police.
Here's where the fun begins. Within minutes, numerous cops show up, stringing tape, blocking off roads, notepads out, radios going, blah blah blah. It didn't take long to become absolutely disgusted with the situation. Evidently, the Sheriff's Department dive team claimed that they had Side Scan Sonared the area but the weeds were causing problems in viewing (again, did I say there were NO weeds?). When I asked why they didn't go in to look for the body, I was told that the water temp and conditions were not favorable for diving (???) I was also told that they were just waiting for the body to float up sooner or later. Wish I could say that this was the end of it (because I was fuming by now) but I had to listen to the officers tell the family that showed up "you're going to want to take off because it's going to be at least 4-5 hours before we get this guy out". From then on it went like this... Who has a body bag, don't you have a body bag, where do we find a body bag.... Who's going to go in and get him out, we can't go in and get him out, you can't go in and get him out, how do we get him out.... FINALLY the Sheriff's Department Dive Team shows up and their worry is "is he bouyed?" (Yes he was and we even tied him to the breakwater wall so he would get caught in the surge again). "So all we have to do is follow the line down"?
Now that I've vented... I know that there are good dive teams out there so please don't get me wrong, but if a dive team is this incapable, why don't they allow local divers to join and help them out? I've been told it's because of a federal funding issue. I mean they all have really pretty suits, but they take 45 minutes to get them on! What if there was a child that fell through the ice? They KNEW he was there! They KNEW where he jumped off! Why did they not go in and get him? My only thought is that 1. They didn't want to dive in the conditions or 2. He wasn't important enough to go in for. Either way....
To top it all off, the newspaper praised the dive team for their weeks of searching for this gentleman! Unbelievable! I am not by any means looking for praise, I'm just hoping someone more familiar with these situations can shed some light on this for me.