• Home
  • About
    • Authors
  • Articles
    • Archives
    • Chaplain
    • Crime & Controversy
    • Community
    • Cop Humor
    • Editorial
    • Op-ed
    • Gear & Technology
    • Investigations
    • Laws & Legal
    • Leadership
    • News
    • Officer Down
    • On Duty
    • Tactics
  • Network
    • Illinois Network
    • Minneapolis Network
    • Tulsa Network
    • Wauwatosa Network
    • Learn more
  • Training
  • Officer Privacy
  • Jobs
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Law Officer
Law Officer
No Result
View All Result

Law Enforcement in Rough Waters

rough waters
September 21, 2022
National Police AssociationbyNational Police Association
Share and speak up for justice, law & order...

While there are police units specifically assigned to water safety, every officer is a general-purpose emergency responder and may find themselves saving lives at risk from drowning.

A special force of Metropolitan Las Vegas police rescue officers deployed to save a couple being washed away in flood waters while trapped in their van. Their police helicopter took off to search for the couple in distress. Located at about 3 a.m. the van’s occupants were plucked from the vehicle by an officer hoisted from the hovering Airbus H135 which was navigating wind, rain, and utility lines. The older couple had pulled to the side of the road earlier to rest and were overcome by unexpected flooding due to heavy rainfall. Metro search and rescue engages in over 100 rescues every year.

Swift water from torrential rains in California surprised a woman and her two children on September 12th when a flash flood turned their street into a raging river. San Bernardino Police officers were responding to an unrelated call when they arrived to find the family in distress and waded into the torrent to pull everyone to safety. “Our officers do not encounter swift-water floods often, however it doesn’t stop them from jumping into action and saving lives,” San Bernardino’s Police Chief Darren Goodman wrote on Twitter.

A July 30 Twitter announcement from the Apache Junction Police stated “On July 28, 2022, the Apache Junction Police Department responded to 24 different calls for service related to flooding.” A woman stuck in her car in flood waters was rescued by an APJPD officer with the assistance of others at the scene. The woman’s dog that had been in the vehicle could not be located.

A similar scene occurred in Alabama during heavy June rains that flooded streets and stranded motorists. Gasden, AL police officer Braxton Keener responded to a distress call from trapped motorists and assisted them to safety.

In June a Walla Walla, Washington police officer was able to lasso a cat from a fast-moving flooded waterway, saving it from the species’ noted disdain for immersion. In July the Kentucky State Police in coordination with the Kentucky Division of Wildlife performed a dozen searches and three rescues during flooding near the city of Jackson. St. Louis County police had to break a car window to reach a man trapped in flooding in the city of St. Charles in a July 26th rescue.

In August, a man was rescued when he suffered a medical emergency while driving and sped into a New York pond, sinking in 15 feet of water. New York State Police, Trooper Rush came on the scene and literally dove into action to pull the man to safety.

Unusual monsoon-type rains have inundated urban areas and rural waterways with unexpected flooding. Those areas where canals and lakes are part of the first responder landscape find water rescues part of their routine. Other areas, like many of those noted here, are likely to find uniformed police officers the first on the scene. While officers are trained in basic water rescue, implements are sometimes hastily obtained from whatever might be available. Spare tires as flotation devices, tow ropes and straps for reaching victims, and batons for forcing open windows replace the tools available for a full-time water rescue unit.

Getting into the water is especially hazardous for officers who are already carrying over 30 pounds of gear. Boots are not ideal for swimming and ballistics vests are not flotation devices. Whether to take time setting aside a few thousand dollars of taxpayer-funded equipment attached to their duty uniform that might be ruined by filthy floodwaters or stolen by opportunistic bystanders is a snap decision to be made. Unless the rescue is in a pristine mountain stream, rescuers may also face dangerous floating debris, frightened animals both aquatic and normally land-based, and chemical and biological hazards unleashed from their usual places.

Whether it’s performing CPR on a child submerged in a swimming pool, balancing on a slippery shore to toss a line, or diving to a sinking vehicle, police officers find a way to rescue when duty calls.


Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D  is a retired police chief. He is an award winning writer, college professor, trainer, and first responder chaplain. He is the author of several law enforcement related books and articles. Shults currently serves as a municipal judge and a coroner’s investigator in rural southern Colorado.


This article originally appeared at National Police Association. 


Share and speak up for justice, law & order...
Tags: heavy rainsLVMPDmonsoonswift water rescue
National Police Association

National Police Association

The National Police Association is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization, IRS NTEE classification code B01, Alliance/Advocacy Organizations, within the Educational Organizations category, EIN 82-0647764, founded to educate supporters of law enforcement in how to help police departments accomplish their goals. The National Police Association is supported solely through contributions of individuals and organizations. Donations are tax deductible.

Related Posts

Las Vegas police

Las Vegas police see more recruits as officer shortages hamper nation

December 15, 2022
Yoni Barrios

Las Vegas mass stabber booked for multiple counts of murder

October 7, 2022
Robert Telles

Las Vegas judge approves removal of Democrat public administrator accused of murdering journalist

October 6, 2022
LVMPD

LVMPD on course to get reality-based training at $35M center five years after deadliest US shooting

October 2, 2022
Gabriel Charles

Las Vegas gunman killed in exchange of gunfire with wounded officer

September 14, 2022
Robert Telles

Las Vegas police arrest Dem county official in reporter’s stabbing death

September 8, 2022
Load More

Latest Articles

Chicago officer ambushed

America is hemorrhaging from the heart, but there is a solution

January 28, 2023
Colinford Mattis

Ivy League-educated attorney who helped firebomb NYPD patrol car during riots sentenced to prison

January 28, 2023
Mohamed Ali Elmi

Major drug dealer busted with over 65,000 fentanyl pills in Twin Cities

January 28, 2023
Los Angeles

Police search for gunman after 3 killed, 4 critically wounded in Los Angeles shooting

January 28, 2023
Bahram Hojreh

California water polo coach sentenced to 18 years in prison for sexually assaulting nine teenage athletes

January 28, 2023
David DePape

Paul Pelosi attacker David DePape makes incriminating phone call to San Francisco TV station

January 28, 2023
Load More

Weekly E-Newsletter

Subscribe—and get the latest news and editorials direct from Law Officer each week!

[newsletter_form type="minimal"]

JOIN THE FIGHT

BE COURAGEOUS

FIND MORE…

Law Officer

© 2021 LawOfficer.com

LawOfficer.com

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact

Speak up for justice, law & order

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Authors
  • Articles
    • Archives
    • Chaplain
    • Crime & Controversy
    • Community
    • Cop Humor
    • Editorial
    • Op-ed
    • Gear & Technology
    • Investigations
    • Laws & Legal
    • Leadership
    • News
    • Officer Down
    • On Duty
    • Tactics
  • Network
    • Illinois Network
    • Minneapolis Network
    • Tulsa Network
    • Wauwatosa Network
    • Learn more
  • Training
  • Officer Privacy
  • Jobs
  • Contact

© 2021 LawOfficer.com