How to become a

[WeldonDowd]

I am interested in becoming a public safety diver in the not so distant future. I live in Louisiana and cannot find info anywhere; anyone got a starting point?

 

[Gary D.]

Start at your soul then try your local Fire and LEO departments.

Being a new diver I'm sure that you have that new diver excitement and want to do something exciting. But something to keep in mind is that the wrong PSD dive can ruin your diving experience for good. I have been on my very active team for 34 years. We are allowed 10 in-house divers. Over those years I’ll estimate that we have had near 100 on the team. Other than the 10 on the team at this time I don’t know of any that have continued to dive after leaving the team. One prior member went on trip to Mexico a while back and went diving. He said it was a horrible experience because he kept flashing back to the last kid he was involved in the recovery of.
Think before you leap into this field.


Good luck

Gary D.

 

[KathyIGH]

Hi kac215,

This is Kathy with DUI - Diving Unlimited International. We are have a Public Safety Diver Program at various DOG Rally & Demo Tour stops this year. More information is available at 2010 Risk Management for Public Safety Dive Teams - test dive DUI drysuits and more

 

[tc]

Pasted from an earlier thread-

Find out who provides the public safety divers in the area(s) you want to work. Normally it will be a law enforcement agency or a fire department, sometimes a volunteer organization.

In nearly all agencies public safety diving is not a full time job- it's an extra duty on top of being a law enforcement officer or firefighter.

See if they use only their full time personnel or if they also use reserves or volunteers. If they only use their full time folks then you will need to get hired, go through their academy or training program. If they use volunteers ask what the requirements are to join.

For the agencies that use full time personnel find out how long you have to be on the agency before you can apply to be on the team (In many agencies it will be several years). If they use reserves or volunteers then find out what training they expect you to have before you can join and what training they will put you through after you are hired.

Do some research before anything else- asking the question here shows you are on the right track.

Do a bit of reading- some books I like- Encyclopedia of Underwater Investigations by Robert Teather, Public Safety Diving by Walt Hendrick and Andrea Zaferes and PSDiver by Mark Phillips.

Most public safety diving courses are sponsored by these agencies and many are only open to folks that are already on teams. (teaching only folks that are covered by workers compensation should an injury occur tends to lower the liability risks)

Your profile indicates you only have a couple dozen dives so far, get with a shop or club or find a buddy and go out and get some experience under your belt, as you get more dives in your skills will improve and you will be a better candidate for a team.

Public safety diving is a highly specialized area and while many of the recreational courses you mention may not be directly applicable they all add to your experience level and help you start to develop skills that will help you throughout your diving career, sport diving or PSD.

One final thought- if you run across local dive shops or sport diving instructors offering training in public safety diving make sure that the course is being taught by someone with actual experience in public safety diving (and tagging along for a couple of callouts is not enough). If they don't have actual experience in the field save your money and go elsewhere.

Good luck!

 

[CCTX50]

I agree with Gary D about the soul searching. PSDing is very specialized and is not glamourous in the least bit. A lot of the time you are diving in dark muddy waters full of entanglements. This is far from recreational diving. Coming upon a body that has been submerged for days is not something that I feel that most people can deal with. If you have a family and children of your own, talk to them about it. There is a lot of faith and trust put in your dive team. Your life is in the hands of your fellow divers. As is the same, their lives are in your hands. Also as Gary D says, team members come and go from the teams. As with my team, most of the past team members no longer dive. Either they have a hard time dealing with memories of a dive recovery or have a fear of getting entangled due to a bad event happening during a PSD dive.

If after thinking about all this and you still want to do PSDing. Most teams are affiliated with law enforcement or fire departments. Look into that and speak to the local PSDers. Ask if you can attend some of their training only to observe. You can learn a lot by doing this before committing yourself. We wish you luck and safe diving!!!