State police divers from New England train in Lake Champlain Islands

Divers from several state police agencies were in Vermont this month to conduct week-long coordinated training missions in Lake Champlain, including in the Champlain Islands.
The out-of-state police cruisers were spotted during the week in Grand Isle and Chittenden counties, prompting calls to The Islander.
Vermont is part of the New England State Police Administrators Compact (NESPAC) and every other year it provides joint training for their respective Underwater Recovery Teams, also known as dive or SCUBA teams.
The training lasts two weeks, according to Vermont State Police Lt. Charles Winn, who is commander of the Vermont dive team.
He said in recent years Vermont has hosted the first week “because we can usually provide more realistic training venues.”
The second week this year will be conducted later in Maine, he said.
This year, participating agencies were from Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, Winn said.
He said there were 26 participants: 12 students, six instructors and eight dive tenders and surface support personnel.
Most of the training, including locating evidence and searching for missing swimmers and boaters, was on Lake Champlain, including near Apple Island Marina in South Hero, he said.
Other scenarios were in more open water portions of the lake, including off North Beach in Burlington. The focus included buoyancy and “dive buddy” contact, Winn said.
He said a manikin was used as a missing person, and the divers were expected to locate and recover the body.
Winn said it is important to have interagency operational abilities by ensuring troopers are paired with fellow divers from outside agencies. The training also dealt with proper diver decontamination procedures.
Classes and written exams were done at the state police barracks in Williston, according to Winn, who serves as the station commander for the St. Johnsbury barracks.
He said the group also was able to conduct certain swim tests and confined water training at the Middlebury College swimming pool.
Winn said state police divers from across the New England region sometimes are called upon to help their fellow states.
He said state police divers from nearby states were summoned to Vermont last summer in an effort to find a missing man in the Somerset Reservoir in Windham County due to the large size of the body of water. He said the body was recovered on the fourth day.