I responded to this thread a while back, just thought that I would give a little more insight to the reality of Public Safety Diving in the real world, primarily in the Volunteer stage of Public Safety. Since 1st January 2015, I have already been involved in 3 vehicle recoveries in our local lake, Lake Hickory, North Carolina (a video is attached to one of these recoveries) [video=youtube;g1mmZl_K2K8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1mmZl_K2K8[/video], 2 Evidence Recoveries, and 2 preliminary investigations with our local Sheriff's Office. During all of the incidences, local law enforcement are hindered by the fact they do not have a department dive team, though one member is part of our independent team operated under our store. So they rely on our local fire department teams and our private team to do all the investigations under water for them. After the last few months, the Sheriff's Office has decided that they now need a team and are seeking the best deal they can find. For the last several weeks, I have spent several days speaking with local officers who will be in charge of the team, explaining to them what equipment they will need and the recommend training to adequately prepare them for the task at hand. The overwhelming response I received is astonishing, we only want the bare essentials, and once we are certified, we can train our own. So the question was asked, what is the Sheriff's Office response going to be if an Under Water Investigation arise during the winter months. The response, "That will most likely not happen," needless to say in January of this year I assisted with an Insurance Fraud investigation, where a woman pushed her car into the lake to collect insurance, and in February, a car slid through the snow and overturned into the lake, with two entrapped in the driver's and passenger's seat. The lack of knowledge sometimes clouds the judgement of Departments. Now in respect to this particular Sheriff's Office, I am a former Deputy to the same, and understand how politics work when a department head ask for money from the commissioners for training, equipment, etc. They have to look for the cheapest route to satisfy the big wigs in the County.
With the Fire Departments, most of ours at least 90% are volunteer and are privately ran, even with county funding, taxes, etc., and can apply for grants and such to cover the cost. But most still neglect to adequately prepare personnel with the proper equipment and training. The other side of the spectrum is Departments will spend the money on gear and training but, do not let the members use the gear to become proficient with it except when there is a an actual call out. They trust them with a $300,000.00 Fire Truck, traveling at ridiculous speeds (remember talking about 18-26 year old volunteer Firemen), but they won't trust them to take and use $1,000.00 worth of Scuba Gear out to practice with.
The sad reality is, Public Safety Diving (not paid departments, but volunteer) is made up of Open Water Divers, some who just get certified so they can have the words DIVE TEAM put on there shirt, using inadequate gear, for the safety of our communities. I am directly involved with, as of to date, 7 Public Safety Dive Teams in a 2 County span, and all of these teams are made up of many different certification levels ranging from Open Water - Instructor. Some have a Public Safety certifications and some have Under Water Criminal Investigation certifications. Some are avid divers and some only dive when the tones go off. But for the teams that I directly supervise, only Rescue or higher can enter the water, and no one is allowed to do any diving they are not trained to do. If you do not hold a Deep Diver Certification, you simply do not dive below 60 feet, if you do not have a Night Diver Certification, you do not dive on night operations, if you do not hold an Under Water Criminal Investigation Certification, you do not dive to recover evidence, etc., it is simple as that. Also note, just because I own a dive shop, does not mean you have to get training from me, I encourage all to seek out training from all over.
Now with all that being said we all start somewhere, and all should be allowed to TRAIN, and all should have a job during an operation. The Open Water Diver, is useful during the setting up phase, and can assist with gear checks, entries and exits, and even DECOM. If we don't allow our less experienced divers to participate, they way someone let us way back when, then they will never learn. It is a fine line when we talk about liability and reality. The reality of the matter is in the volunteer arena, sometimes you have to do the best you can with the best you got. Sometimes this does jeopardize the Departments in the liability arena, but as I have said many times, it is way easier asking for forgiveness, than permission.
I hope all is safe and remember why we do this, it might be a badge of honor, but in the end we do it for our communities. Safe diving to all.
