(From left) Joe Hawn, WPD Dive Team Commander;
Rich Haddad, K21 Health Foundation; Amy Cannon, KCCF and KREMC Operation Round Up;
Stephanie Overbey, KCCF;
R.J. Nethaway, WPD Dive Team Asst. Commander;
Scott Whitaker, WPD Chief of Police.
(Photo provided)

By Lt. Kip Shuter,
Warsaw Police Department

Recently, the Warsaw Police Department Dive Team was the recipient of several community
grants to obtain new dive equipment to better serve our community in a water emergency. Grant funds
were obtained from the K21 Health Foundation, Kosciusko County Community Foundation, and from
the Kosciusko REMC Operation Round-Up Grant.

The grant funds, totaling $41,567, were used to obtain a new RescueONE® Connector Boat® dive boat, a RescueONE® TwinTransport® trailer, and added 360 imaging to their current Humminbird® side scan sonar.

The need for a new dive boat was realized when the dive team responded to several water
emergency incidents and the current inflatable boat was not adequate for multiple divers, and dive
command operations had to be done from shore. Often, the team relied on civilian boats for additional
support, but civilian boats hampered the efforts due to lack of space, improper equipment and safety
concerns for the divers in the water.

The new boat will accommodate four fully outfitted divers and two two support personnel, or
up to eight eight personnel without equipment. The boat is equipped with StiffBACK™ double hull design that increases stiffness, safety and durability. The boat forms a floating platform for in water dive operations.

The new boat comes equipped with a RescueONE® ProPower® outboard motor. These motors are all enhanced with high tech advanced electronic features emergency responders need, but cannot get from the motor manufacturers except on the RescueONE® ProPower® motors. The new trailer is a double stack trailer that stores, transports and launches two boats towed by one standard half
ton vehicle.

The trailer allows the dive team to deploy both the new boat and the team’s Zodiac® inflatable boat at the same time. The additional 360 imaging added to the team’s Humminbird® side scan sonar now allows the team to search up to 150 feet in front of the sonar pod, either in full 360 mode or by isolating the sweep area.

The new 360 imaging allows the sonar to isolate the sweep area of water
from 10 to 360 degrees thus giving dive personnel the underwater intelligence they need to make a
successful search and rescue.

The WPD dive team has been in existence for 38 years and responds to water emergencies within
the City of Warsaw, but also throughout Northeast Indiana when additional assistance is requested.