# Quincy PD SCUBA Unit



## Piper (Nov 19, 2004)

*Police commission 28-member dive team: Scuba-trained officers added to homeland security contingent*

_By CHRISTOPHER WALKER
The Patriot Ledger_
The Quincy Police Department has commissioned a 28-member dive team as part of its efforts to build up its new homeland security unit.

The officers were formally certified as scuba divers last week after months of intensive training, and officials expect them to be able to perform underwater searches and other other security measures at the city's shoreline.

The homeland security unit commanders, Lt. Donald Greenwood and Sgt. Robert Gillan, plan to use the dive team to inspect piers, docks, the hulls of ships and areas surrounding energy facilities in the Fore River. Gillan said similar efforts are already done around Boston Harhor by Boston and Everett police and the State Police, noting that it will be first time such tactics will be used around Quincy Bay and the basin of the Fore River.

The training was paid for from a homeland security grant*. Members of the dive team volunteered for the training,* which included classes ranging from basic to advanced scuba techniques. Gillan said the Coast Guard and the Navy are expected to provide additional training.

''This is just one aspect of our total homeland security effort, and the fact that these officers would volunteer their time to be trained and certified shows a tremendous level of commitment to the city and the department,'' said Police Chief Robert Crowley.

The department created the homeland security unit, with Greenwood and Gillan as its only formal members, earlier this year.

The move was seen as critical for the city to obtain a series of grants and other cash sources from the federal government.

Already, the city has secured several hundred thousand dollars in grants to pay for upgrades to its primary police boat, a hull-scanning robot to inspect ships, and biological, chemical and nuclear response training for everyone in the police and fire departments.
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There are also plans for bomb-sniffing dogs, a system of surveillance cameras across the city, and training for a dive team, a series of measures that would cost more than $3 million in federal homeland security grants.

The police department is also planning terrorism awareness classes for residents.

The initiatives developed by the city are being coordinated with the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, a partnership of nine communities surrounding Boston formed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The regional approach is buoyed by a realization that the effects of any major terrorist strike in Boston will not be confined within its borders, and neither should efforts to prevent a strike.

The idea is to make sure that the eight midsized communities surrounding Boston, along with federal and state agencies, can act together during a major emergency.

In addition to Boston and Quincy , the other communities in the regional group are Brookline, Everett, Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop.

Boston is playing the leading role and has a major say in what homeland security money will be funneled where within the region.

_- I don't know how much of the 'volounteer' part of that I like, but then again, if it made for OT later......_


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## Chree (Mar 14, 2005)

They used the dive team the other night when a car went into the ocean. No one was in the car, but it was nice that we did not have to wait for the State. Trainging was done on volunteer basis at first, then they were given time off to compensate.


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