The state police scuba team continues their long history of diving but now does so in the forefront of professional civilian divers. Earlier this week members of the Indiana State Police USRT (Underwater Search Rescue/Recovery Team) spent three days training in Logansport after receiving new scuba equipment.
The team of twenty divers was just issued new dry suits and the Interspiro DP1 surface supply air diving system. “This new system will give us the highest possible safety level of diving in some of the toughest and most difficult diving conditions,” stated USRT Commander Sgt. Chris Lambert.
The system allows the divers to stay completely dry and avoid any possible contaminates that might be in the water, commented Assistant Commander Sgt. Dan Leslie. He added, it also allows for longer dive times and crystal clear communication from the surface to the diver. The divers are tethered to the surface with a line that carries their air and a communication cable.
Divers from the USRT live all around the state and respond to a variety of water related calls year around. The twenty divers make up three teams that typically respond to water related calls for evidence recovery and drowning victims but they are also certified in swift water rescue.
The USRT was first formed in 1960 when the superintendent sent two classes of fourteen men to a six day scuba school forming the first dive team for the department. Today divers attend a school that is nearly five weeks long and they are expected to become master divers, rescue certified divers, master new dive specialties, and complete a river rescue course in their first two years.
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