Deputies suit up to dive under
By Melody Brown-Peyton
Published in News on April 3, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Wayne County Sheriff's Office Dive Team members Chuck Shaeffer and Billy Rivenbark document evidence found in the lake at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park Friday during the final day of a three-day underwater crime scene certification class. The certification was free to the 10 members of the dive team through Wayne Community College.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
The Wayne County Dive Team suits up and prepares to enter the lake at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Chuck Shaeffer holds a rope that he will use as a way to communicate with the other members of the Wayne County Dive Team on the shore of the lake at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park while looking for evidence during an underwater crime scene certification class Friday.
Under cloudy skies the already murky water becomes even more difficult to see through.
Yet two members of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office Dive Team are able to don scuba gear, submerge and -- working together and mostly by touch -- identify and recover evidence from the lake bottom.
The drill executed Friday at the lake at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park was part of a three-day certification class made available to 10 members of the sheriff's office dive team by Wayne Community College.
Detective James Cornell, a 14-year veteran of the sheriff's office, serves as the executive officer of the dive team. In addition to recovering evidence -- the exercise included a BB gun thrown into the water in a cordoned off perimeter -- dive team officers sometimes have the unenviable task of having to search for human remains.
"It is important to have a dive team that can help recover a drowning victim. It will help bring closure to families." Cornell said.
The training helps the divers prepare for a real recovery operation, during which they might encounter any number of risks, such as hypothermia and black water conditions.
During its 20 years in operation, the team has conducted roughly 12 searches and recoveries and recently added its only female member, Detective Hope Shivar.
Most recently, the dive team has become excited about the purchase of a new boat that will be used during recovery efforts, Cornell said. It is estimated to cost $29,000.