Sheriff’s Underwater Search and Recovery Team put through the paces at UCSB

Wednesday was Training Day for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Underwater Search and Recovery Team at UCSB.

The 13 member unit is put through the paces once a year on the college campus. The training also includes applicants wanting to join the team, to see if they’ve got the physical prowess.

Divers must perform basic underwater skills in black-out conditions such as assembling nuts and bolts, removing and replacing critical gear and a myriad of swim tests – some under a set time limit.

The team is vital to both the sheriff’s office and the community at large.

“It’s something that’s absolutely needed, especially with the ocean water that we have,” said Garrett TeSlaa, a sergeant with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. “We do diver recoveries and we do evidence recoveries out in the ocean and we do dives in agricultural ponds or Lake Cachuma when there’s a missing diver or a missing swimmer. Or, that we believe evidence has been, tried to be, concealed under water.”

The Search and Recovery Team is made up of sworn officers, custody deputies, search and rescue volunteers and a few firemen.

The next window to join is the first of next year. For more information, click here.