BY Voice Tribune

Louisville Metro Police divers and bomb squad members looking for explosives descended on the Belle of Louisville hours before the Great Steamboat Race last week.

But they weren’t responding to a specific threat.

“Our primary mission was to look for improvised explosive devices that could have been placed under the hulls,” dive team commanding officer Sgt. Jerry Huckleberry said.

The practice of searching the boat, along with the Spirit of Jefferson and the Belle of Cincinnati, came after the 1984 Great Steamboat Race, when a bomb threat prompted the evacuation of the Belle of Louisville.

Divers search the boats’ hulls while the bomb squad searches the interiors. They do not inspect the Delta Queen.

“People live on board the Delta Queen and to perform an inspection they must shut all the power off,” which would be a big inconvenience. Huckleberry said.

“Safety is a primary goal, whether looking for a bomb, car or person,” Huckleberry added.

This is just one of the many tasks performed by the Metro Police Dive Team.

“Our purpose is to conduct recoveries anywhere on the Ohio River and its tributaries in Jefferson County,” said Officer Chad Crick, one of the team’s instructors.

The dive team also assists other state agencies and recovers evidence and automobiles believed to be connected to crimes or accidents. The team recently expanded into more search and rescue operations, a function largely covered by Louisville Fire & Rescue’s dive team.

The team has 20 divers and four commanding officers. It is the only police dive team in Kentucky.

A new officer who joins the team must be trained to become a certified diver if they aren’t already.

The team trains once a month in the Ohio River, pools and other local bodies of water, depending on the season.

They also train to become more familiar with the team’s equipment. Part of that includes learning to use the remote operated vehicle (R.O.V.).

The R.O.V. was purchased in 2007. It is an unmanned piece of equipment with side-scan sonar, a mechanical arm and lights. It is capable of going to depths up to 400 feet.

“We would use the R.O.V. in a situation like a bridge collapse. We would send it in place of a diver to get a feel for what’s down there” before putting divers in the water, Crick said.

The R.O.V. also has the capability of bringing a body to the surface if the water is deemed unsafe or too deep for the divers.

Louisville’s dive team is ranked as the only level one team in the region because of the equipment it has available. Other cities with teams are Cincinnati, Nashville and St. Louis.

“We’re ready to go at all times,” Crick said. “We can go anywhere in the country to assist with operations.”

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