By Evan Triantafilidis
Sentinel Correspondent
The Greenwich Police Department’s dive team went head first into its twice-monthly training day Wednesday morning at Greenwich Harbor, simulating real-life scenarios to prepare for potential dangers on the water.
Marine Officer Tom Etense says that Wednesday was the first opportunity for the dive team to use new equipment they just recently received.
“Today is a little bit different because we just got six new sets of gear, so this is the guys’ first open water dive with their new gear,” Etense said. “It’s a little different than how our recreational divers change their gear. The unwritten rule is that you never change more than one thing on any given dive, but because of the logistics of getting them all new stuff, everything is new. There’s a little bit of a learning curve with all the new stuff, but it’s not super different.”
The 12 members of the GPD dive team received six sets of new gear from capital budget funds from the town and another six sets of dive equipment from a FEMA grant.
Divers in three teams of two were given a task to complete for their training—using a dive dummy to simulate a rescue in the water.
“Through another passed FEMA grant, we bought a dive dummy,” Etense said. “Like most water dummies, it floats and simulates an aquatic rescue, but ours also intentionally sinks to the bottom. It’s also able to be seen with sonar.”
The divers were assigned to locate the dive dummy, pull something off the dummy and relay important information about the scenario to the next diver.
Geared up in equipment weighing up to 115 pounds dry, divers are prepared for swimming and boating accidents that are not uncommon to the area.
“Every serious call we’ve had out there had the potential to be this,” Etense said. “Last year’s Emily Fedorko accident could have easily been our call of finding her. Even this past Sunday, with the boater who fell over, if she wasn’t found then it would have been our dive team on the call.”
The dive days, twice a month year-round, focus on safety and precaution. Divers are never alone during their training exercises at either the Greenwich Harbor or the Greenwich High School pool.
“All of our divers swim with a buddy,” Etense said. “If you research any public safety diving fatalities, if they had a buddy with them, they would probably still be here. A lot of the other companies with other diving techniques in the country are single divers and they’re tethered. We dive with buddies only.”
With GoPro cameras attached to the side of the boat, police are then able to review the training exercise afterward and highlight the proper techniques.
Boating season may be coming to an end, but Etense couldn’t resist stressing the importance of prevention steps on the water.
“Life jackets, life jackets, life jackets,” Etense said as a plea to boaters. “I know we beat that to a pulp, but it saves lives. I always tell people, ‘I don’t care if you’re an Olympic swimmer, if you’re walking down the sidewalk and pass out, you might be injured, end up in the hospital, but someone will find you. But if you do that in the water, you’re gone.’ You’re only a good swimmer if you’re conscious.”
“Wear your life jackets; for kids it’s the law,” he continued. “You have to have them really accessible and in the right sizes for everyone on board. Also, just tell people what you’re doing. Tell someone what your plan is so that this way if something happens, we can call the police and have a timeline.”
