MCSO demonstrates new tool that will help lake rescues, recoveries
MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. - As we start to feel summer-like temps, many will be headed to Valley lakes to boat and swim, keeping the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office lake patrol busy.
We're learning more about a new tool they’re using this summer to help speed up search and rescue or recovery missions.
Deputies in action:
Here’s the training scenario demonstrated on April 8.
Someone has drowned in Saguaro Lake, and MCSO is tasked with recovering the body in murky waters. To make the training more realistic, deputies sank a mannequin 100-feet offshore.
"It's been modified to replicate the sonar image of a human body," said MCSO Lt. Jason Gilchrist said.
He operates an underwater robotic vehicle, changing how they search rivers and lakes.
"It is incredibly important. In fact, even irreplaceable," he said.
‘This has the ability to go nonstop’
Dig deeper:
"20, 25 guys to cover larger areas when we are conducting searches. This has the ability to go nonstop and cover up to 20 to 30 acres in a shift," Lt. Gilchrist explained.
As the robot is released into the water, Lt. Gilchrist heads back into the truck to guide it using modified Xbox controllers.
Sometimes, the cameras on the robot simply aren’t helpful due to murky waters.
"Visibility can be anywhere from a foot and a half inward to zero," Lt. Gilchrist said. That’s why sonar is important in these operations.
It takes a keen eye to make out what they’re looking for. It’s not always drowning victims. Sometimes it’s finding guns chucked in the water or other evidence.
"It's utilized 40 to 50 times a year," Lt. Gilchrist said.
Eventually, the robot finds the mannequin. The robot's camera spots the hand. An underwater camera shows a claw trying to keep the body in place.
Once latched on, divers follow an orange wire to the robot to secure the mannequin, but only if it’s safe for them.
"120 feet down, there’s obstructions, trees, boulders, cliffs. Then we use it because this thing is obviously replaceable, whereas our personnel and human lives are not," Lt. Gilchrist said.
Why you should care:
This is a solemn but important duty of lake patrol. Not only finding victims, but also finding closure for families.
To show how close to real life this training is, this team says that within the last decade, they’ve recovered five bodies in the area of the lake where the training was.
That’s why training like this is so valuable.