Maryland Police Dive Team Plunges Into Its Work

By E.B. FURGURSON III
The Capital

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- When state police divers plunge into the deep in search of evidence or a body they're always in the dark.

"You can't see anything. We tell school kids it's like putting on a blindfold and getting in your closet, closing the door, turning out the light, and trying to find your favorite shirt," said 1st Sgt. Chris Davala, commander of the Underwater Recovery Team.

It's also often cold and dangerous because of hazards found underwater.

And they do it anyway.

None of the 15-member team -- 11 fully qualified primary divers and four probationary divers -- are full-time. They do regular patrol duty at state police barracks across Maryland and don the diving gear when called upon.

The team trains two days a month, and also two weeks a year. They practice and go over equipment, safety protocols and dive procedures. They will even wear masks that are completely blacked out to simulate underwater conditions.

"We train for things we hope never happen," said Davala, who works out of the Berlin Barrack and has 12 years on the dive team.

The core of the team held a demonstration Wednesday at Sandy Point State Park, in part to show off new state-of-the-art diving helmets.

These aren't the clunky huge brass ones of old. The Kirby Morgan Model KM37 S-S are smaller, sleeker, stainless steel affairs.

"They provide several advantages," Davala said. "We can stay down longer because of the constant air supply and we have direct communications between the diver and the team on the surface."

Divers wearing the helmets and those in more traditional scuba gear both took the plunge off the bulkhead by Sandy Point's boat ramps.

Divers had two or three fellow team members assisting them as they put on their suits and gear. Each was checked, then double checked.

Then they got wet.

No one on the surface could see what they were doing underwater, but they explained their duties in detail.

Cars are usually easy to find, they said. A gun or other weapon tossed into the water, less so. And when divers stir up the sediment on the bottom, it gets worse.

Because they can't see, divers use what they call jack stays, weighted blocks tethered together by lengths of line, 50 to 100 feet long, stretched across the bottom underwater.

The divers, who work in teams of two, keep one hand on the line at all times and search with the other. When they get to the end of the line they will double back. If they don't find what they are looking for, say a gun, the line gets moved.

"If we are looking for a gun or weapon we will only move it about 3 feet," Davala said. "If it's something large, like a car, we might move it 15 feet."

Though divers can communicate with the surface, by radio in scuba gear and direct line with a helmet, they have to use hand signals to communicate with each other. They read the signals by touch.

"Diver one will stop along the line and grab the arm or hand of the other diver, a tug upward means trouble or time to surface." Davala said.

"Everything is by feel," said Cpl. Justin Updegraff, from the Belair Barrack, who was busy managing the divers from the surface during the demonstration.

Completing dive training is called "earning your bubble."

Troopers only go underwater after a thorough investigation -- on land -- has been completed.

"We talk to witnesses or suspects," Davala said. "We not only want to know where they threw the gun but were you standing still or driving? Was it thrown from the passenger side or driver's side over the roof? Did you throw it underhand or overhand? Was it windy?"

He explained a car might sink right where it hit the water, but if there is a current and the windows were up it could have floated. A gun might not drop straight down, it will float back and forth like a feather in the air. "And a current of four knots might carry a piece of evidence 20 or 30 yards from where it entered the water," Davala said.

Once in the water, the team will keep at it as long as conditions are safe, or they are called off for other reasons, he said.

"You do it until you run out of air."

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)