Greenwich Police Hold Joint Training Session

Greenwich Police Department hosted a joint dive team and canine search and rescue team training operation on Island Beach and within the Long Island Sound this past weekend.

The training focused on multiple agencies working in conjunction with each other in order to assist the Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue Team on Oct. 6.

The Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue (CCSAR) is a volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a professional team response to all emergency service agency requests for lost, missing, or drowned persons; advancing education in search and rescue; and offering support for families of lost and missing persons.

Members of the Greenwich Police Department Dive Team, Milford Police Department Dive Team, and the Sound Beach Volunteer Fire Department Dive Team, worked together to assist all of the canines and their handlers in training searches on the shores of Island Beach and the waters of Greenwich within the Long Island Sound.

The canines use the scent that leaves the body of a submerged person and travels upwards toward the surface. It will break the surface and become windborne. By working across the wind, the boat and dog will cross that pattern of scent. By reading their dog's reaction to the scent, the handler can get a good idea of the boundaries of the scent trail, then follow the trail back to the point where the scent leaves the water. By considering currents, the divers can then determine the approximate location of the body.

The Greenwich Police Department Marine Section and Dive Team utilized PSV#139 as a diving platform and search vessel for the canine teams. Using divers submerged approximately 20 feet below the surface as “victims”, the canines were tasked with locating the divers by scent and then rewarded when located.

The Sound Beach Volunteer Fire Department Dive Team utilized their land-based dive training and assisted as “victims” lost on or near the shore. Canines and their handlers searched the shore and the shallow waters in order to locate the divers.

The Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue Team also utilized cadaver scent placed below the water’s surface on training manikins in order to simulate a search and recovery of a drowned victim.