Fulltime PSD pay

[Gary D.]

We went for 20 years with no additional pay for the dive team. Then someone decided we needed to be paid above and beyond our normal hourly rate. I fought it and just wanted the team to get paid as we normally did and no additional money for diving.

They decided on an amount and once it started we had almost everyone in the department apply.

One guy had been a diver for over 20 years and thought he should be on the team. He had 15 or 16 dives in 20 years but was a 20 year diver.

Another was a Navy diver and proceeded to tell me how to dive. He was NAUI certified while in the Navy so that made him a "Navy Diver". Over ten years and just over 10 dives.

We even had two apply that couldn't swim. $$ does weird things to people. I still wish they would drop the pay so guys on the team were there for the job and not the cash.

Just got my pay stub showing what was deposited into my account by the County.

Now, so as not to cause any injury to anyone, please be seated when you read the amount I get for diving.

I get $.50 an hour for diving. For the dive last Friday, being it was on my day off was overtime. I got, "drum roll", "Trumpets", $1.50 for that rescue/recovery, before taxes.

And this high pay brought every Tom, Dick and Harry out of the woodwork.

The County said that if SRU and FTO's got extra pay so should the Divers. I fought it and lost. You should hear the gripes when I suggest getting rid of it.

Gary D.

 

[indypddiver]

We do not recieve extra pay for being members of the dive team, nor does it earn you extra points in promotion processes. I completely agree with Gary...if a guy wants to get on the dive team just because he might make some extra cash, then he's probably not the kind of guy we're generally looking for. Most of the members of my team have been on the team for quite some time and do it out of a sense of duty and for the comradery associated with being on such a team. I certainly wouldn't knock a guy if he decided to try out because extra pay was involved, but I think it would certainly quickly change the environment in which our team operates.

 

[Mverick]

You get paid to dive?

Man, Ours is volunteer.... I've called off and Lost money to dive... Been blocked in by over 70 cars at a recovery and figured. Heck, Might as well get another dip in the water. Cause I ain't getting out of here....

Rick

 

[Boater Dan]

Geez! Now I really feel ripped off doing this as a volunteer. I didn't recognize the "BIG" money that paid teams get. Heck, you will probably be able to retire about 5 or 10 minutes earlier than normal retirement on that rate.

Seriously, that's more of an insult than a reward. Somehow the common sense and reality concept seems to come into play once again!

Dan

 

[Bob3]

... We even had two apply that couldn't swim. ...

Now, so as not to cause any injury to anyone, please be seated when you read the amount I get for diving.

I get $.50 an hour for diving. For the dive last Friday, being it was on my day off was overtime. I got, "drum roll", "Trumpets", $1.50 for that rescue/recovery, before taxes....

I dove with a couple old timers that didn't know how to swim, they were using heavy gear so it didn't much matter anyway.
Not too many of those guys around anymore though.

50¢ an hour, geeze... finally found a place that pays worse than FL & the Gulf.
That's even more than what some guys are worth though.

 

[bridgediver]

We don't get any extra dive pay but the regular pay is a major hassel. Sometimes I wish we were a vol team at least as far as pay goes.

The union will not allow any training or operational dives without pay which on the surface seems like a good idea. Each diver on the team has their own set of scuba gear issued to him for the purpose of the diver to keep his proficiency up and be able to dive whenever he wants. We have about 10 training dive days a year and I think anyone would agree that that is not enough diving for PSD. The problem arises when the suggestion is made that the guys probably should be putting in some bottom time on their own to keep proficient - not necessarily training dives, just OW diving to stay familiar with the gear. Needless to say the guys just don't go unless its a manditory PAID training day.
I think anybody on this board would be excited to be on a team that provides you with your own complete set of gear yet our gear just sits. Drives me absolutely nuts!!!

One of the many battles with trying to keep the team going. Who knew there could be so much politics in something scuba related?

mark

 

[Boater Dan]

Come on now! Who do you think will believe that there are politics in the police and fire services???? That's just tooooo unbelievable! NOT! I went to college for 4 years for Law Enforcement only to realize through some friendships that I developed, there was NO WAY that I would be capable of dealing with the politics. Unfortunate, but true.

I agree with your comment about providing gear and not be used. We are a volunteer team and funding is our single biggest problem. We would kill for provided gear. Fortunately, politics do not come into play much for us.

Dive Safe!

Dan

 

[Scuba Duke]

Well, I'm new to scuba diving, however, there aren't very many divers in this area. There is me and one other guy at my department who dive. One good think about the area of GA I live in, a lot of the surrounding counties get together to form teams. Our SRT team is made up of agencies from 3 counties and the Drug Task Force in our area covers 3 counties. Because of that, some of us from neighboring agencies have decided to start a dive team. The State of Georgia offers two Dive classes, D.A.R.T. Dive Accident Response Techniques, and a follow up class Public Safety Diver. The other officer from my agency and I are supposed to go to the classes towards the end of the summer. I'm hoping to be Advanced Open Water by then. I would however like it if the supplied gear. I don't mind using my own or not getting paid. So far, there hasn't been any fuss made about it one way of another. I did get a couple of wierd looks when I brought the idea too our Trainging officer and to the Chief. However, when I mentioned how easy it is for someone to get drunk and fall of their fishing boat, they both agreed it wasn't a bad idea. So, I'll keep ya'll up to date on how the class goes and what problems arise in our sleeply little southern department.