Chesapeake Dive Team Makes a Splash!

Local first responders learn underwater rescue techniques in Batten pool

First responders save lives anytime and anywhere, and being by the beach this includes
water rescues. Over the past 10 years, the Chesapeake Dive team has been in and out of the
Batten pool at Virginia Wesleyan University. Firefighters and police officers from around the
mid-Atlantic States have been freshening up their underwater rescue techniques to take back to
their department dive teams.
“It's a train-the-trainer kind of course,” said Lieutenant W. Chadwick, a Chesapeake
Police Dive team instructor. The dive team trains year-round to be ready for any emergency. In
the picture above the dive team can be seen going through an underwater obstacle course with
“entanglement hazards and drills they may encounter in darker water,” said Chadwick.
The team's connection to VWU goes back several years. A former VWU Softball player,
Heather Bishop, is a team sergeant, as well as one of our professors of (what does he do) Dr.
Benjamin Dobrin.
Dobrin is a member of the Underwater Search and Recovery Team (USART). Before
that, he was in dive school with the Virginia Beach EMS Marine Rescue Team and went through
the Chesapeake Police Department dive school.
Back in 2011, he was the Dive Training Officer of Va Beach when one of their divers died
during a training accident. He knew then that he needed more officers to have advanced
underwater training.
The teams do not only train, they get called to respond to maritime emergencies. Just
last week they were called out to respond to an incident at the James River Bridge, said Dobrin.
They also perform high water, flooding/swift water (like hurricanes and tropical storms) rescues.
Sometimes the team does not only rescue people but also does evidence recovery from
crimes. This can include weapons and stolen items.
Another part of what the team does is working with the “Army Corps of Engineers to
remove a vehicle from local waters. We are in one of the few states that have heavy lift
capabilities, we have lifted a bus from 60ft depth”, said Dr. Dobrin.
The team would like to thank the school for allowing them to use their facilities and being
accommodating, and William Harrell for helping them with all their questions.