What's up with poorly equiped Public Safety divers?

[JT2]

I got to watch one of our local Public Safety dive teams practice today, and was I ever surprised! They did have on some nice looking flourescent orange drysuits, but from there it got way worse, they had old Sherwood jacket style BC's on and they were all using Air2's instead of a regular back up. Also, when they were practicing doing evidence searches there was only one diver in the water at a time, they did have what they called a back up diver ready to go in the water, I guess they splash the back up if they don't see bubbles coming from the primary diver anymore, however, they did have a rope tied to the diver in the water, which I might add got tangled up many many times. When it was time to practice wearing doubles, they brought out the two sets of doubles they had and on both sets there was only one first stage attached, and it was on the divers left side, no long hose, and they still used the Air2's. The tanks were connected using isolation manifolds, but the only thing on the valve on the right side was a valve plug, and the most interesting thing was the way they had the doubles rigged to the old Sherwood BC's. I am not an expert or extremely experienced diver, but I can tell you that these guys were horrible divers, and when I talked to a few of them, they stated that since they had become rescue divers they had not been in the water, but they were out thre today because they are required to go out a few times a year to keep their skills up...haha...Oh yea, another thing I thought was interesting was that out of the three I talked to, none of them had more than 30 logged dives, including training dives, how is this possible? Is this the norm around the country or was this group just a bad example?

 

[trymixdiver]

yikes

makes you wonder who is going to rescue the rescue divers.

Andy

 

[Dee]

Whoever's in charge of the Rescue 'Department' obviously doesn't have a clue. I have friends in law enforcement rescue departments and they have very strict rules, regulations, and requirements for personell as well as gear.

As for their gear, proper rescue gear can be very expensive and some Depts. are dependant on donated gear or they use their own...both of which is dangerous.

I hope these guys a never called out!

 

[Arduous]

Unfortunately public safety divers are under the thumb of budget constraints and the control of their municipality. I do search & rescue work for a police agency. Unfortunately, the agency picks, purchases and maintains the equipment. Training is also under the thumb of the budget as training is not free. You can’t always place the blame on the divers for the equipment or their method of training. Most times this is governed by the agency and out of the divers control. You may ask then why do the divers dive, when they may know better ? For the most part they do it because they care. They want to recover that lost person so that the family can have closure, or get that piece of evidence that puts the bad guy away. As for how they dive. Public safety diving is not recreational diving. Public safety divers are trained to go into waters that recreational divers are trained to avoid. Stormy seas zero visibility..ect. When searching a small area where the target is believed to be,it is not uncommon to send only one diver down, with another diver in the ready. Again may or may not be the divers choice. Who actually dives and who stays on the surface is also not the individual divers call. This decision is made for him or her by those in charge and those in charge may or may not even be divers. That’s just the way it is. So don’t judge the way you dive with the way public safety divers dive. It’s not even close to being the same thing.

……………Arduous

 

[Uncle Pug]

Poorly equipped & trained < budget constraints & fossils in charge


Single diver down on rope (sometimes rope includes com link) with a line tender controlling the divers search by com and/or line signals with standby diver ready to go down the line is SOP for searchs in low or no viz. Public safety divers can turn the best viz into low or no viz almost immediately.

 

[Aquamaniac]

The equipment and technique issues listed above are not isolated to the USA.
In Oz we share the same issues.

One day the SES will take over dive rescue
They have more money than anyone!!!!

Dave

 

[JT2]

Personally, if the reason these people do this is because they care so much, then why don't they go out and practice diving on their own to better their skills? I understand that it is different from recreational diving, but I am talking about basic dive skills here, these guys had trouble with very simple tasks. And as a side note, I simply meant to relay the fact that I thought it was a sad situation, and I realize it might not be the divers faults, but these guys were sitting complaining that they had to come out and practice two or three times a year, I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem like a very caring atitude to me. Quite honestly I'm wondering if there is something that I could do to try to help this situation by bringing it to someone's attention, because believe me I feel for these guys havin to work with the equipment that they have and the small amount of training they've got. They simply found a PADI instructor who let them sign up and take OW through rescue back to back etc... This is the only training they have. My question is, how does this make them qualified to be public safety divers who God forbid might be called upon to save someone's life? I guess I just see it a little differently than you do Arduous, I think the divers have to take some of the responsibility!

 

[SDAnderson]

Great care should be taken comparing recreational divers with public safety divers: they have a whole different set of objectives, techniques, equipment, tolerances, etc. Sort of like comparing a guy that hunts deer with a professional soldier - there are some similarities but the analogy breaks down pretty quickly.

There are even major differences from army to army. Afghani's may fight like hell when cornered and certainly have a lot more experience than most soldiers, but stack them up against an army with modern equipment, techniques...

It does kind of sound like the PSD's you were watching had more in common with a third-world backwater than good ol' USofA.

Steven

 

[JT2]

Pug, I can assure you that these guys were not using a com system, and the closest they came to using rope signals was when one of the line tenders said," I can't feel him on the rope anymore, he must have unhooked or gotten it tangled like he usually does, give him a few more minutes then send down the other diver." That's Scary!!

 

[Uncle Pug]

JT2 once bubbled...
That's Scary!!

...that is not only scary but it is also SOP for agencies where budget constraints determine training and fossils are in charge.

Even if they have the right PSD equipment and proceedures... if they do not have the training it is a farce. Kinda like an internet DIR diver.