Public Saftey Diver
What is Public Safety Diving?
Public safety dive teams search for lost or deliberately discarded objects and sometimes participate in criminal investigations. Their work can help provide legal and emotional closure and the job can be very rewarding.
Public safety divers may be called upon to look for evidence, locate underwater vehicles and missing people, but not all public safety dive team members get in the water. Surface support personnel handle important topside tasks, such as scene management and witness interviews.
​
Advanced Training and Skills
Public safety diving requires special training and a significantly different mindset than recreational diving. Public safety divers may be asked to dive in limited visibility and other hazardous conditions.
Public safety divers must have excellent search and recovery skills, learn special communication procedures and master self-rescue techniques. They also need topside training on how to manage a scene, bag evidence and interact with witnesses.
​
Public Safety Diver Training
In the PADI Public Safety Diver certification course, students learn how to evaluate and manage a scene, critical self-rescue skills, search and rescue techniques, and communication procedures.
PADI Surface Support Specialist is a sub-set of the Public Safety Diver course for non-diving team members. Students learn how to support divers from the surface, assist with pre-dive safety checks, equipment setup and scene management.
Divers who wish to expand their skills (and potential job opportunities) may enroll in the PADI® Advanced Public Safety Diver course.
​
PADI Public Safety Diver
Learn the fundamental skills required to work as a public safety diver or assist local authorities. Through scenario practice in real-world environments, gain experience as the primary diver, safety diver, dive supervisor and in a surface support role.
You do not need to be part of a public safety dive team to take this course.
This is a three (consecutive) day course.
Public Safety Diver Hazmat
Learn the fundamental skills required to work as a public safety diver or assist local authorities. Through scenario practice in real-world environments, gain experience as the primary diver, safety diver, dive supervisor and in a surface support role. This course also incorporates processes and procedures to manage Hazmat locations and missions.
You do not need to be part of a public safety dive team to take this course.
This is a three (consecutive) day course.
Public Safety Diver Surface Support
Learn the fundamental skills required to work as a public safety diver or assist local authorities. Through scenario practice in real-world environments, gain experience as the primary diver, safety diver, dive supervisor and in a surface support role.
You do not need to be part of a public safety dive team to take this course. This course is designed for non-divers to operate in an assistant role to the divers.
This is a three (consecutive) day course.
Public Safety Diver Surface Support Hazmat
Learn the fundamental skills required to work as a public safety diver or assist local authorities. Through scenario practice in real-world environments, gain experience as the primary diver, safety diver, dive supervisor and in a surface support role. This course also incorporates processes and procedures to manage Hazmat locations and missions.
You do not need to be part of a public safety dive team to take this course. This course is designed for non-divers to operate in an assistant role to the divers.
This is a three (consecutive) day course.
Advanced Public Safety Diver
The Advanced Public Safety Diver course builds off of the Public Safety Diver course, and is targeted towards pre-existing dive teams and newly formed/forming dive teams. This course builds off the initial PSD course by teaching procedures and techniques to operate in different environments with varying mission objectives.
This is a three (consecutive) day course.
Please contact the dive shop for pricing and any questions you may have
Other courses that we recommend for all PSD divers include:
Dry Suit
Full Face Mask
Search & Recovery
Night Diver
Underwater Navigator
Self-Reliant Diver
Meet the Instructor
Dale Deboer
Dale DeBoer has been in the local dive community since 2012. Dale started working at SubSurface Adventures as a PADI divemaster then migrated to Immersed Scuba as a PADI and SDI/TDI instructor. Dale is an PADI IDC Staff Instructor affiliated with Mountain to Seas in Asheville and Smoky Mountain Divers in Gray.
​
Dale has been involved with the local rescue squads since 2012 with Washington County Rescue Services, Kingsport Lifesaving Crew, Green Spring Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad.
​
Dale has been a public safety diver since 2012. Dale is a PADI PSD instructor, PADI Advanced PSD instructor, PADI PSD surface support instructor, and PADI PSD Hazmat instructor.
​
Dale attained his formal PSD training from UCI and received his PSD instructor rating in 2015 from UCI and PADI. Dale is a Master Underwater Criminal Investigator Through UCI.
​
Dale is the captain of the dive team and the DC of operations for the Kingsport Lifesaving Crew.
​
PADI IDC Staff Instructor # 322772
SDI/TDI/ERDI Inst # 29346
DAN Instructor # 15229
