Indiana Conservation Officers add public safety divers

Eight Indiana Conservation Officers have joined the ranks of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement's team of certified dive rescue specialists who serve the entire state. They participated in a graduation ceremony held today at the Indiana Statehouse.

To become certified dive rescue specialists, the officers graduated from the six-week Public Safety Dive Rescue Specialist School. The new divers, with the county in which each is based, are Kenton Crews (Spencer), Nina Freund (Marshall), Caden Graber (Daviess), Nicholas Hartman (Putnam), Claire Jenkins (Scott), Charles Martin (Vigo), Dylan Mast (Noble), and Michael Montgomery (Parke).

During the school, students are trained to meet Dive Rescue International requirements, which include being able to do fully encapsulated diving with full face mask, dry suits, redundant air supply, and underwater hard-line communications.

The students were drilled on basic scuba skills, physical fitness, black-water diving, boat-based and shore-based operations/search patterns, drowning victim/body recovery, evidence recovery, light salvage operations, lift bag operations, vehicle recovery, deep diving, and swift water diving.

The school was based in Terre Haute. Training took place at the Vigo County Aquatics Center and in various bodies of water throughout Vigo County and the surrounding area.

Indiana Conservation Officers respond to and investigate drowning incidents and all other types of water-related investigations, including evidence recovery, vehicle recovery, swift-water rescues, and boat accidents.