St. Landry Sheriff's Office Dive Team Training

Posted: Jul 24, 2012 5:15 PM by Melissa Canone

The St. Landry Sheriff's Office Dive Team performed a training exercise at 10:00 a.m. on July 23, 2012 at the Dubbison Lake area. Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz said, "We encourage our divers to dive frequently for training purposes. This helps keep their skills sharp."

Due to the increasing number of water related incidents, in 2007 Sheriff Guidroz developed a Dive Rescue / Recovery Team to assist in dive operations. They are available 24 hours a day and the divers are trained to various levels of certification.

The Dive Team is supervised by Major Glenn Higdon, along with Team Leader, Lieutenant Cheyne Platt. Other divers include Detective Rick Leger, Jr, Deputy Brandon Garcia, and Detective Jason Sonnier.

"Our divers are certified as Advanced Open Water Divers. This course helps the divers increase their confidence and build their scuba skills so they can become more comfortable in the water," Sheriff added.

The members are required to participate in regular in-service dive team training, which consist of: underwater searches, navigation, underwater crime scenes, body recoveries, basic ropes/repelling, underwater rigging and lifting, others, and be available for emergency call-outs at any time.

Pictured starting from the left is Lt. Cheyne Platt, Det, Jason Sonnier, Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz, Dy. Brandon Garcia, and Det. Rick Leger, Jr.