Sheriff highlights dive team

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office recently highlighted its dive team in a news release. The office said the team is typically employed when a driver loses control of a car and careens into a retention pond, a suspect tosses a weapon off a bridge into a river or creek, or a boater tragically falls into a river and fails to surface.

“When the water claims a victim or becomes a hiding place for evidence, it takes a specialized group to search and recover under less-than-desirable conditions,” the office said. “In a county surrounded by water and peppered with numerous retention ponds, the task of scouring the depths falls to an elite team of deputies in the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.”

The office said the team recently conducted training in a pool and in a retention pond.

While the unit trained in the pool, a sergeant said one piece of equipment each member carries is a dive computer with a heads-up display, which allows the diver to clearly see the condition of his air supply, depth, and other important data without having to use his hands or attempt to view his gauges through water that is often quite murky.

“Another important tool for these divers is the dry suit,” the office said. “Inside this suit, the diver is fully insulated from the water and whatever potential biohazards may exist in that water.”

The sergeant explained that diving in the dry suit requires careful balance and coordination because the pressurized suit can cause a diver to suddenly become inverted and unable to right himself.

When the team moved to a retention pond, their tasks included using technology and touch to locate everything from a disabled AR-15 to a full-size training dummy.

The divers said the best part of their jobs is getting paid for doing something they enjoy. The downside includes always being on call.

“To me,” added one diver, “the worst part of the job is definitely when we must recover a body.”

The office said that after the training, the team was sent on a mission that had a happy ending. A man was reported missing after canoeing on Black Creek near Middleburg.

“After a long night of searching,” the office said, “they were able to successfully locate the tired gentleman, safe and sound.”