‘We’ll Respond’: N.Y. Scuba Response Team Ready for Hurricane Sandy

With Hurricane Sandy’s arrival, Sgt. Terrence Sullivan of the New York Police Department’s scuba response team already knows he will not be seeing home tonight.

“Unfortunately, people still driving out there,” he told ABC News today. “What’s going to happen when water comes back up again? It’s going to be higher than it was earlier today and there’s going to be people stuck [calling] 911 and we’ll respond.”

He said the scuba team was based out of the Brooklyn Army Terminal and made up of recreational divers. They have to wear nearly 60 pounds of scuba gear, including a weight belt and and scuba tank, and could face swells that reach 10 feet tonight.

“We’re really going to be a citywide response with vehicles right now and if somebody was to fall in the water, we’re going to respond and try to get them out before it gets worse,” Sullivan said.

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French Police Recover Stolen Treasure Sold by Divers

Via Seek4media:

About 25 years ago a young Corsican and two friends discovered gold coins and medallions under the ocean while diving for sea urchins near the Mediterranean coast.

They enriched themselves by selling off the treasure in the black market. On Wednesday, French police seized a significant amount of the gold treasure.

When local authorities questioned them about their new found wealth, the 3 friends claimed that they inherited their wealth. Experts say that the gold treasure was probably part of an old shipwreck and is a very important historical discovery. The coins dated back to the 3rd century AD.

The French police said that the treasure is a maritime cultural asset and belongs to the state. The rare Roman coins flooding the market raised suspicion among collectors which eventually led to an investigation.

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The Hidden World of Police Divers

As the saying goes: it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

Underwater search teams are a familiar sight during major police investigations. But what is it like to make a living probing the country's murkiest recesses?

Submerged in darkness, chilled in near-frozen water, you grope your way through the silt and debris.

Somewhere, amid the sludge and the discarded rubbish, is your quarry: a knife, a gun or a body.

With colleagues on dry land depending on you, how on earth do you find what you are looking for?

For the UK's army of police divers, patrolling rivers, canals and seas is a daily challenge.

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NYPD Scuba Divers Rescue Baby Seal

We already dig police dive teams in general, but can't help but love 'em a little more when they do something like this.

Detectives Frankie Pellegrino and Matthew Sherman, dressed in black, protective scuba suits, high-fived each other yesterday from the water off Joline Avenue in Tottenville.

It was a first for the two members of the NYPD’s Scuba Team, but it was a rescue they will never forget — a baby seal, entangled in heavy-duty netting.

Stuck since Tuesday evening, the seal was trapped within a web of monofilament fishing line attached to a piece of mooring floating in the Raritan Bay.

“[For him, in the water] there is zero visibility,” said Pellegrino, a resident of Great Kills. “Mooring is used for docking boats and jet skis, and attached to this piece was the monofilament net. He couldn’t get out.”

Pellegrino and Sherman, who waded out to the distressed pup, used a pair of shears to cut the blue netting from the animal’s torso.

“We were nervous about getting bit,” said Pellegrino. “He did make some exploratory grabs, but he was scared. At one point, I had him straddled [to keep him from splashing around].”

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Police Divers Retrieve Ditched Loot

Scuba diving is quite useful when a thieves decide to ditch stolen goods in various waterways.

Columbus police divers have recovered about $22,000 worth of stolen jewelry and coins that were tossed into water, as investigators continue searching for property taken by a multimillion-dollar burglary ring.

An estimated $800,000 worth of items remain missing from a break-in at 4252 Shire Cove Rd. in December 2007, said Hilliard police Sgt. Mike Redmond.

The priciest item recovered by divers was a Rolex watch worth $16,000.

"It was still ticking," Redmond said. "I guess they really are waterproof."

Seven members of the ring, which burglarized more than 25 homes in Hilliard and on the Northwest Side, have been convicted; two others await trial.

As part of plea bargains in the case, some of the burglars agreed to tell investigators where stolen goods were dumped. "At some point, they panicked and threw stuff in different waterways," Redmond said.

A team of eight Columbus police divers spent about 15 hours Wednesday and Thursday searching bodies of water in Franklin County, said Columbus Sgt. Jeff Sacksteder. The waters were so murky that investigators used metal detectors, he said.

Most of the items were found in one location, but investigators aren't revealing where they searched. "We don't want people to start scavenger hunts of their own," Redmond said.

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We really dig law enforcement dive teams.