"Pete C." > wrote in :


>>
>> S'funny, I would have thought that Emergency Services training was quite
>> good over there. It is here.
>> And, given your scenario, if someone has just completed a Police Rescue
>> dive course, how long should they stand in the background before you
>> deem them "experienced" enough to cope with this sort of job?
>
> If that is the actual course just completed, he wouldn't be "just
> certified" as there are prerequisites for such courses. Of course our
> jam lady may not have used the correct terminology.


I've just been 'certified' in RAR (Road Accident Rescue...... 'Jaws of
Life', hydraulic rams etc).

I'm sure as hell that if I get a call out to an MVA entrapment the people
inside aren't going to give a rats ass *when* I completed my training......
they'll just want me to use my training to get them out.


>
>>
>> >Particularly now when it's a
>> > recovery operation which lacks the urgency of a rescue that might
>> > justify pushing the limits of ones training.
>> >
>>
>> You been tapdancing for long?
>
> Recovery operations only serve to appease the relatives of the victims.
> They do not by the wildest stretch of the imagination warrant risking
> the lives of inexperienced personnel.
>
> Do you dive?


In water....... not currently.

>Are you qualified for an overhead environment with strong
> currents, near zero visibility and jagged debris to get snagged on? Do
> you have the slightest idea what that recovery operation is like?


In a previous life (late '60s early 70s), I was a Salvage Diver. *Before*
there was a Police Dive Squad in Adelaide.
So yes, we did a lot of recovery work.


>It
> sure as hell isn't remotely like a dive on one of your nice reefs.
>


Never actually got to dive on the 'nice' reefs.


--
Peter Lucas
Brisbane
Australia

"People sleep safely in their beds because rough men stand ready in
the night to do violence to those who would do them harm"
-- George Orwell