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Marine/Dive Team History The Galveston Police Department has had divers since early 1970's. However, the team was officially organized as a Dive Team during the administration of Chief Freddie Poor in the wake of a tragic accident in 1992 in which two UTMB nurses backed their vehicle off of a pier into the research vessel slip behind the UTMB complex. One of the nurses died, and was recovered by current team members who responded with their own personal equipment. Although the recovery was conducted professionally, retired Capt. Richard Boyle expressed the desire to form a legitimate team, which would afford members the opportunity to receive public safety dive training and utilize standard operating procedures and safety guidelines to assure officer safety. The team was allowed 15 slots, and was unfunded by the department. Equipment has been donated largely through the years by public donation, with some city support. During the administration of Chief Bob Pierce a newly formed marine unit was combined with the dive team, brining the complement to 20 officers. Currently the team engages in underwater evidence and body recovery, vessel security operations, and courtesy marine patrols. Team member's participation is in addition to their regularly assigned duties within the department. All team members are required to successfully complete a rigorous selection process. In addition to holding a civilian or military dive certification, divers must successfully complete a public safety divers course, which has been offered by both the Houston Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety. Marine patrol officers must complete the Texas Parks & Wildlife Boaters Education Course as well as the Marine Safety Enforcement Officers Course. A Texas Peace Officer must be MSEO certified by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in order to enforce Texas Water Safety Act laws. Efforts are currently underway to cross train team members for both missions. The team has received specialized training through the federal governments Joint Task Force Six under "Operation Alliance" for counter drug operations. JTF6 is a joint task force comprised of the U.S. military as well as federal and local law enforcement agencies. Through JTF 6 the team received three training schools dealing with counter drug and counter terrorism methods, which were taught by the U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group from Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. The team has conducted dive recovery operations, and waterside boat security operations for the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Customs, U.S. Navy, DEA, NASA, as well as other area law enforcement agencies. The most recent large-scale operation was the team's participation in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia's Recovery Mission at the Toledo Bend Reservoir. During that operation the Galveston Police Marine/Dive Team was one of only two teams, which recovered shuttle debris. During the six week operation the team conducted over 300 dives, and logged over 150 hours of subsurface time. |
