1 reply to this topic

[peterbj7]

I don't know if this is the right sub-forum. If it isn't, can a MOD move it?

I read a newspaper article here in Belize last week, about an initiative training kids who've never dived, and also training some police officers who likewise have never dived. There was a paragraph written by the police superintendent saying that thanks to this training he would now have officers he could call on when police work necessitated diving.

That statement really worried me. Anyone who has ever studied PSD (in the USA - in Britain it's quite different) knows that when a recreational diver makes a "working dive" (in PSD terms) the result is very likely not good for that diver. Working whilst diving is very different from an elective recreational dive. MANY such divers have died doing what their recreational training (such as it is) told them it was completely safe, but had they known PSD diving they would have realised was possibly suicidal.

Ten years ago I was part of a team teaching local officials (police and coastguard, all experienced recreational divers) the basics of PSD. It took a week, and they all realised at the end of it how much more there was to working underwater.

Does anyone have any experiences or factual stories they could add to this? If we get some good ones, I'd like to refer the police superintendent to this thread.

[Scubatooth]

I have taken some PSD training in the past and even the crash course was a long weekend (4 days of 12-14 hour days with over half being in the water).

Its not jumping in the water and going to work as there is much more then that. Now I will admit to having done a couple of bounce dives (sunk vessels looking for hull numbers/plates) but that is completely different then what most PSD diving is. To do it properly you need a Commander, safety officer, Communications, tender per diver, diver then a backup diver and tender. Tenders may be not only taking care of the diver but also dealing with harness tether, gas supply, comms cables and other equipment. I don't do any PSD diving anymore as most of the local fire departments have there own teams and legal / liability reasons.

My .02