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[LSPD] Behind the Curtain - Underwater Dive Unit


Mediva

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The water is our land

The Los Santos Police Department's Underwater Dive Unit has its roots set deep in 1957. Ever since then, it went through several major changes and revamps in order to meet the standards of the current age. One of the major revamps came in October 2020 when Lieutenant John Curtis moved the whole unit to Vespucci Headquarters and re-housed it.

When do we intervene?

The unit is the LSPD's primary response for water-related incidents where one or more of the facets of the incident require an underwater or specialist, water-borne response to preserve life or aid in the assistance of crime prevention as per the Los Santos Police Department's mission. Officers assigned to it are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Officers, regardless of their platoon, may become qualified divers upon completing "try-outs" and upon passing basic recruitment requirements. 

The unit may work in tandem, alongside, or be led by partner agencies with respective water-borne divisions that serve a similar purpose to the UDU. This is known as mutual aid. Officers working in the UDU may be led by partner agencies where the agency's remit outweighs the expectations or remit of officers in the UDU. This includes the Los Santos Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue division.

Requests for deployment by the Underwater Dive Unit may be made for the following situations
  • Suspects using water as a means to facilitate evasion
  • Support of tactical waterborne assets.
  • Suspects submerged or trapped underwater.
  • Recovery of evidence from bodies of water.
  • Management, scouring, or searching of underwater crime scenes as designated by a departmental supervisor or detective.
  • Vessel searches, including hull searches for narcotics and weapons vessels.
  • (NB: the UDU may deploy for EOD-related searches at the request of a SWAT Team Leader and/or qualified EOD Operator).
  • Underwater Vehicle Clearing

 

Our fleet
Our main ground vehicle is our Utility Truck, this truck holds most our equipment. It has three side compartments and a rear one.
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The first side compartment holds out helmets, BCD vest, fins or "flippers", and mask with built in radios.
The middle compartment holds both main and smaller spare tanks along with various sizes of weights needed for the weight belts.
The last compartment holds Wheel chocks, life hammers, spares, bolt cutters and other small tools, evidence sifting grates, dive lines and two metal detectors.
The rear one holds water recovery bags both evidence and body bag sized, making buoys, waterproof dive cameras and spare tools and lines.

Our secondary vehicle is the Speedo van. It is primarily used when the crew consists of more than four divers.
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The van holds gun racks in the front and rear, along with lock boxes for smaller firearms in the front of the van. It also has room for tank racks and a equipment box where items needed for dives are kept.

As for watercraft we have 2x Zodiac Pro 750 Rigid Inflatable Boats "RIB" (dingy).
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The vehicle may carry the following equipment, life jackets, tank racks, secure container for small item storage such as training bricks, body and evidence bags.

 

Our equipment

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The Aqualung Rapid Diver Pro Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) provides an easy to use, easy to adjust MOLLE rig for effective and customizable dive setups. Each BCD can be customized to the diver's specific needs. This BCD uses a Faber Steel Cylinder Low Pressure 27CF tank in black. This shall be used as the pony or backup tank, and comes with a secondary regulator for emergency air.
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Rated for 120CF, the Aqualung rig shall be used to carry a 100 cubic foot steel cylinder tank. This tank shall be filled with Nitrox 32 (also known as Enriched Air Nitrox, or EAN). Depending on the depth and diver, this tank should allow between 40 minutes and 1 hour of dive time.
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The OTS Guardian Full Face Mask is used in conjunction with below prescribed communication gear and an ambient breathing valve to prevent oxygen waste. The full face mask can be easily integrated with the helmet used by divers

 

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The MK-2 DCI Intercom allows through-water and wireless communication on a 4-wire by up to six divers at a time. Whilst primary communication should be through the use of hand signals, divers may use the OTS SSB Transceiver to communicate with the intercom to communicate with the scene or tactical commander.

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The diver transceiver, which should be attached securely to a diver's BCD or belt, allows for both through-water communication and communication with the MK2-DCI intercom if properly connected. The transceiver provides four channels - one of which should be used to communicate with the surface wirelessly, and the other which should be used to communicate with the team using through-water technology.

 

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The Aqua Lung Bump Helmet protects the diver from any possible impacts to their head during the dive.

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The Shredder search and rescue (SAR) fins are lightweight and effective in underwater propulsion that can be adjusted to fit a wide variety of sizes.

Last but not least, every diver is also fitted in a prolapse extreme wetsuit, some of the specs of that suit are undersuit made of breathable fleece material for thermal protection, compression padding on shoulders, chest, and knees for protection, and lightweight at about three pounds.
 

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Written by Miguel Cortes

 

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Edited by Mediva
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