Becoming a PS diver

[Divin'Papaw]

Let me start off by saying thank you for the important service you all perform and for your dedication and public service.

As a new diver, I find myself quite interested in what all of you do. So, if possible, could some of you experienced PS divers answer a few questions for me?

1. How does one go about becoming a PS diver?

2. Are all of you generally professional police officers and firemen, or are you "regular folks" who volunteer your time?

3. Even though I already have a healthy respect for the time and training involved, I imagine that, in my mind, I've way underestimated the amount of time and commitment it takes to be a PS diver. Could you give me a flavor of the amount of training and time you put into being a PS diver?

Thanks,

 

[PWCPD Diver]

Let me start off by saying thank you for the important service you all perform and for your dedication and public service.

As a new diver, I find myself quite interested in what all of you do. So, if possible, could some of you experienced PS divers answer a few questions for me?

1. How does one go about becoming a PS diver?

2. Are all of you generally professional police officers and firemen, or are you "regular folks" who volunteer your time?

3. Even though I already have a healthy respect for the time and training involved, I imagine that, in my mind, I've way underestimated the amount of time and commitment it takes to be a PS diver. Could you give me a flavor of the amount of training and time you put into being a PS diver?

Thanks,

I can only speak for my Police Department but primarily it starts like this:

* Submit memo stating interest in a position vacancy when it opens.
*Should be Open water certified Padi, Naui etc...(Advanced O/W at a minimum is prefered) they will get you qualified if not already qualified.
*Must be on the job for at a minimum of two years
*If approved for try-outs must complete the try-out by minimum standards.
*Must go before a review board made up of Senior staff and Team members
*Once on the team secondary shcools begin, Training every month ie: Line tending, basic skills, Underwater search techinques, body recovery techniques etc...

Keep in mind that this is most usually "Black Water Ops" with no visibility period...So if you claustrophobic in anyway it will come out!

Many fire departments also have their own dive teams as well. Both Paid and Volunteer. Some of these have assumed responsibilites of "police" dive teams but then you have the issue of them either having to be Deputized for court purposes or you have to have a police officer/detective at the scene document everything.

That being said we train every month. Doesn't matter about the weather, cold, ice what ever since you will be diving those conditions anyway. We usually practice drills, body recovery, line searches, fan sweeps, jack stay sweeps etc... For exmaple next month we are deploying from helocopters for training.

The best thing of all is ALL THE FREE GEAR! Dry suits, AGA's, you name it!

Brian

 

[Gary D.]

What he said and some, make that lots.

We like to start with a LEO that is off probation and a non diver. It is easier to train a new diver for PSD than take a long term diver and change their diving style and habits. We DO take people that are certified already but a new diver is easier to form into PSD thinking.

Attitude is the biggest thing we look at in the selection process. Basically a bad attitude and a person that is always taking time off sick is not a good foundation for this work.

Gary D.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I can only speak for my Police Department but primarily it starts like this:

* Submit memo stating interest in a position vacancy when it opens.
*Should be Open water certified Padi, Naui etc...(Advanced O/W at a minimum is prefered) they will get you qualified if not already qualified.
*Must be on the job for at a minimum of two years
*If approved for try-outs must complete the try-out by minimum standards.
*Must go before a review board made up of Senior staff and Team members
*Once on the team secondary shcools begin, Training every month ie: Line tending, basic skills, Underwater search techinques, body recovery techniques etc...

Keep in mind that this is most usually "Black Water Ops" with no visibility period...So if you claustrophobic in anyway it will come out!

Many fire departments also have their own dive teams as well. Both Paid and Volunteer. Some of these have assumed responsibilites of "police" dive teams but then you have the issue of them either having to be Deputized for court purposes or you have to have a police officer/detective at the scene document everything.

That being said we train every month. Doesn't matter about the weather, cold, ice what ever since you will be diving those conditions anyway. We usually practice drills, body recovery, line searches, fan sweeps, jack stay sweeps etc... For exmaple next month we are deploying from helocopters for training.

The best thing of all is ALL THE FREE GEAR! Dry suits, AGA's, you name it!

Brian

Sounds exciting!

 

[PWCPD Diver]

Sounds exciting!

Not when it's a sewage drainage pond it's not! And snapping turtles are a big hazard too!

 

[Greg D.]

Any time I here this question I refer people to this post written By Gary D. in this thread.....

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=70629

Sums a lot of things up that need to be considered when getting into this line of work.

Are you, or are you thinking about being a PSD?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are, or are thinking about becoming a PSD read on. If not I’m going to say some things that might disturb you. I’m going to focus on RECOVERY not the rescue aspect of the job as it covers the greatest numbers of PSD’s.

First off let me say that I am very proud to be a PSD and I’m very proud of anyone who can handle the rigors of the job.

It’s a profession where you can and should walk with your head held high throughout your community. But it is also a profession where you should not expect a lot of praise, glory or recognition for what you do. In-fact in most cases you will be left alone to deal with tragedy.

Sure there’s support out there but is that enough and can you really get out what’s eating at you through a non-family member or a stranger.

You might, and will more than likely, be placed in situations that are un-natural to our normal way of thinking and dealing with things. You may be called on to do things that would cause the majority of the population to toss their cookies and through all of it you need to be strong and professional.

Why am I bringing this up?

Well, after this last search and me joking (amongst us well out of the public’s eye) about finding the wrong person, I started thinking about how many times we have had similar surprises. It got me thinking on what it has done to people I know and have worked with over the years.

A large percentage of my department, from the very top down, has been on the team at one time or another. From the time I joined this team in October 76 until now I would guess we have gone through over 75 members. Some are still with the department while others have moved on to other departments or even made carrier changes.

For some teams going through that many may not sound like a lot but we are a team of 10 authorized in-house members. That is a huge turn around. The sad part is how many were active divers prior to the team and how few are active after leaving. Prior to being on the team everyone wanted to dive with us. After leaving the team all but two have sold their gear and quit diving all together.

We have it made over volunteer teams. We don’t have to leave our normal course of employment to go on an operation, as this is a sideline of our employment. We get $.50 an hour for being a member. Most of our gear is supplied and maintained by the department and we have all the emotional support we need to cope with what we have to deal with at no cost out of pocket.

Getting back to my joking about finding the wrong body. It turned out not to be a joke but a fact. We did find the wrong body. Unusual, not as much as one might think. Even though we were only surface support with some specialized equipment it is still a shocking experience when it happens.

As a PSD you are called into areas to make a recovery of a possible drowning victim from earlier in the day. Remember that we are not talking rescue here. Just because you have a victim in the water doesn’t mean there isn’t a second or a third victim that has been there for a while and may or may not have been reported.

So here you are using any variety of search tool and patterns when you come across a human form on the bottom. The lower the visibility the more dramatic this is going to be but you reach out and grab the victim you have located and the part you grab comes off in your hand. That human form you just located has just started to dissolve right before your very eyes.

How do you handle it? It isn’t natural to see this happen to what once was a living, breathing, intelligent human being. It can turn even the strongest stomach when it happens to an animal so what is it going to do to you as a PSD when it’s a human falling apart in your hands?

This happens more often in fresh water than salt, as bodies don’t last that long in the brine. We have had them down over 20 years and they looked like they just drowned. But when the boddies were touched they were the consistency of Jell-O that wasn’t totally set up and outside a mold.

Those types of dives bug me. I don’t like doing them but I in the same breath I don’t mind doing them. Someone has to do it and I would rather do it than expose another member that doesn’t feel very good about doing it.

What you won’t get me to is something a lot more natural. That’s an autopsy. NO way Jose. I can’t stand them and they freak me out. I’ve gone and did OK but my shin crawled for weeks.

Now why can I do so well with one and not the other?

I have just seen a lot of diving lives destroyed by serving short periods as a PSD simply because they weren’t ready. They never had it explained that they were entering into something that is so un-natural to deal with.

I simply will not sugar coat this job and I will try and give you the worst I can. Not to be gross but to help you survive.

Gary D.
__________________
What ever you do in life do it well and do it safe.

 

[PWCPD Diver]

Any time I here this question I refer people to this post written By Gary D. in this thread.....

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=70629

Sums a lot of things up that need to be considered when getting into this line of work.

That is an outstanding thread. It really hits on the job.

 

[Jorbar1551]

Sounds like a very glamourus job...Maybe it should be volunteered for the dirty jobs show on discovery channel. My question is, what type of training schedule do departments tipically have. My dept holds a meeting the first tuesday of each job, but is the training schedule tipically set for a specific weekend, like the third weekend of every month? or is it just show up on these dates...

Do you get to keep the free equipment, or is it for department use only?
Jordan

 

[Gary D.]

Sounds like a very glamourus job...Maybe it should be volunteered for the dirty jobs show on discovery channel. My question is, what type of training schedule do departments tipically have. My dept holds a meeting the first tuesday of each job, but is the training schedule tipically set for a specific weekend, like the third weekend of every month? or is it just show up on these dates...

Do you get to keep the free equipment, or is it for department use only?
Jordan

I don't think "I'M" ready for the public to be watching what we do. The public might be but not me.

Our training is for the most part serious. Yes we do have a lot of fun at it and do just have play days but in the end it's srrious.

When they are issued the equipment it's theirs for as long as they are on the team. Treat it like it's yours and use it for everything except outside paid jobs. Going on vacation, take it. When you leave turn it in. It's a good deal for everyone.

Gary D.