Hamilton County, TN - Yesterday, November 10th, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Underwater Recovery Team conducted their monthly training at 11606 Holly Circle, Soddy Daisy, TN. (Holly Park).

The focus on this month's training day was to conduct check dives with the team’s newly acquired surface supplied air equipment. The checkouts included shore dives and deployment from our HCSO boat. The new equipment performed flawlessly.

This new equipment will increase diver's safety by effectively having an endless supply of air and protection from contaminated waters. The hard hats our divers use are made by Kirby Morgan which is an industry leader in commercial dive products.

Four of our divers have successfully completed the Kirby Morgan's 40 hour Surface Supplied Diving Course. These divers are; Detective Ed Merritt, Sergeant Eliott Mahaffey, Officer John Scruggs and Deputy Daniel Shields.

This new equipment was obtained from the 2014 Port Security Grant (PSGP) which was submitted by the HCSO. The grant paid for 75% of the equipment and training. The same training for more SURT officers was included in our 2015 PSGP this year and was approved at the same 75% level.

Additional divers will also be trained when grant monies are approved.

The following team members participated in the training: Detective Ed Merritt, Sergeant Eliott Mahaffey, Officer John Scruggs, Detective Mike Cox, Detective Robert Lee, and Deputy Daniel Shields.