Police divers receive safety training
It may be just a coincidence, but only one day after we reported on two weekend drownings we are informed of an intensive training session for police divers. The course concluded over the weekend at San Pedro.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
On Saturday, four Belizean law enforcement officers: Special Constables Carlos Santino and Carl Smith, along with police officers Elton Augustine of San Pedro and Jorge Allen from Caye Caulker successfully completed surface and underwater training as part of a public safety diver course.
As part of their training, the officers participated in a simulated exercise in body retrieval….The “body” was breathing, but according to San Pedro’s Commanding Officer Inspector Aaron Guzman, under water investigation is crucial to the police force.
Inspector Aaron Guzman, O.I.C. San Pedro
“This is necessary because in Belize in days gone by, we’ve done recovery of bodies from different areas in the country, be it river or at sea. And if you note just now, there’s some precautions that must be taken; one, to preserve the evidence and two, to preserve the dignity of the deceased. So I hope that if in the future a drowning should occur, a suicide, or a murder at sea, we will be able to, with the assistance of these four officers and their new techniques come up and do a proper case and a more professional case.”
Teaching the class were instructors Mike Horton, of the Dallas Police Department and Rob Davie, from the Spring Independent School District Police Department.
Rob Davie, Public Safety Diver Instructor
“We train them to operate in difficult conditions and to recover equipment and evidence and bodies safely, both for the purposes of the team to recover them safely, to recover the evidence safely, and also to handle it properly. So that if there is some kind of criminal complaint, then the police and the Queen’s Counsel will have the proper information to work with.”
Special Constable Carlos Santino is a Dive Master working with an island dive shop. The only certified diver in the group, he was the single participant in the underwater training. For Santino, the intensive five-day course was an enjoyable challenge.
Carlos Santino, Public Safety Diver
“Before you become a dive master you have to search and rescue too, but it’s a lot different because it’s much more organized, number one to start with, it’s much more organized. Before you jump in any water, you have to first assess, check out the area, make a plan before you go in. Most of the time, it’s to look for dead bodies or like gun, knife and stuff like that…which need very careful planning before you jump in and do it.”
“So far it good and I hope that my most of my other police brothers would put more interest inna it because it’s for our benefit and for the benefit of the country of Belize on a whole.”
Sentiments echoed by instructor Mike Horton.
Mike Horton, Public Safety Diver Instructor
“It’s very seldom you see a community that comes together with so much support for the police department. It’s really a pleasure, quite an honour.”
“The guys that showed were very motivated. They were very motivated. They were really dedicated with what they’d done. We had a very long week, a lot of long hours and they stuck with it the whole time. They’ve done an excellent job. And as a matter of fact they’ve already started asking, wanting more training and how soon they can come back for another class.”
The public safety diving course was coordinated through the efforts of Ronnie Lieberman and Peter Jones from Protech Dive Center in San Pedro. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona
Assisting Horton and Davie on the course was medical officer Denise Horton. Accommodations for the team were provided by the Belize Yacht Club.
