Police and Rescue divers move to high tech equipment
As a normal part of their job, police and rescue
divers perform many difficult and dangerous tasks.
One of the toughest is the search and recovery of
drowning victims. Until
recently, the primary method of doing this type of search
involved putting divers in the water to grope around in near
zero visibility conditions. These searches were long and tedious
even for small search areas.
In the last few years technology has been developed
that makes the job of these unsung heroes much easier.
Side scan sonar is a high tech tool that allows victims
to be located without the need to put a diver in the water.
Previously only in use by the military and large
commercial operations, side scans are now affordable enough for
almost every police department and dive rescue group.
The reason they’re in such great demand is that they
can scan large areas quickly and produce a detailed picture of
the bottom regardless of visibility.
Here’s an example of how this technology helped one
department. On
Christmas day last year a terrible tragedy struck the tight-knit
community of Knoxville, Tennessee.
A man and his twenty month old baby went into the icy
waters of the Tennessee River.
Members of the city’s all volunteer rescue squad were
at the scene in less than 30 minutes.
Despite an exhaustive search effort, eventually involving
agencies from across the state using divers, dogs, and
helicopters, it took over a month to locate the bodies.
As the search progressed over several weeks rescue
workers came to know Kristie Blalock Brown, mother of the baby.
Kristie and her family were on site serving meals to the
volunteers and helping in any way they could. The family had a
chance to observe first hand the often treacherous conditions
divers had to work in. Team
members explained to Kristie that the technology existed to
perform this type of search operation without putting divers in
the water to grope in the darkness, but the team didn’t have
the money to buy it. Ms.
Brown took it upon herself to raise the funds needed for the
team to buy a side scan sonar system, so no other mother would
have to endure what she went through -
the wait to find the body of a loved one.
With a tremendous outpouring of support from the
community, in less than a year she was able to raise over
$25,000. At a
gathering covered by news media from across the state, Kristie
and her family presented the Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad
with a check to purchase a new JW Fishers dual frequency side
scan sonar. At the
ceremony Kristie said, “It’s unbelievable that something so
good could have come out of something so bad.”
Upon receiving the equipment the team named the sonar
“Little Will” in memory of Kristie’s baby, William Brown.
