NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: SCUBA TEAM
Ver 5.0
Copyright 2002: Joe Cocozza
It is a summer day offshore of the greatest city in the world. Sun
light reflects off the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan. The
polarized light glares off the waters of the Upper New York Bay.
Container ships, garbage scows, commuter ferries and pleasure
boats, make it the sea-going equivalent of a New York City traffic
jam.
With blue lights
flashing, a NYPD dive boat cruises through the pandemonium. The
boat then slows its speed to a crawl. Wearing a black Viking
Drysuit in the 100-degree heat, Police Diver Frank Pelligrino
prepares to enter the water. Sweat is pouring down his face as he
puts the AGA mask in place. At the helm, Detective Diver, Tom Kelly
steers the boat into position and idles the engine. The boat is
set, he calls out, “Go Frankie GO!”
Just a mere two hundred meters off the Liberty Island seawall,
Officer Pelligrino backs rolls off the gunwale, splashing into
green water. The Statue of Liberty looks on as he descends to the
bottom.
****
The NYPD Scuba
Team is unique among police dive teams. The most obvious difference
is the area of operation. New York City is a center of global
finance and the media capital of the world. An international city;
it is the headquarters of the United Nations. Moreover, every
ethnic group on the planet earth is represented among New
York’s residents.
New York also is one of the world’s busiest seaports.
Manhattan itself is an island. Moreover, the five boroughs are
surrounded by water. According to NYPD Lieutenant John Harkins;
“ New York City has 184 miles of coastline on the Atlantic
Ocean, and we have over 546 square miles of inland
waterways…. (and) the city is a major hub of international
ship borne commerce.”
The policing of
New York’s waterways are provided by the men and women of the
NYPD Harbor Unit. The Harbor Unit is on the cutting edge of
marine law enforcement. From its 3 bases and 27 boats, the Harbor
Unit provides the City of New York with a marine force that is
equipped to handle all water borne security, public safety and
rescue concerns. This includes: enforcement of maritime laws,
missing persons in the water, evidence recovery, air-sea
rescues,, narcotics interdiction, anti-terrorism and security for
United Nations. To accomplish this mission, the NYPD Harbor Unit
works closely with state and federal law enforcement.
Within the harbor unit is the elite NYPD Scuba Team. The team is
unique among police dive teams. At any time of the night or day,
there is a dive boat and police divers ready to answer the call. In
addition, The NYPD Aviation Unit can deploy two scuba divers into
any waterway in New York City within 8 minutes. The NYPD dive team
is the only police dive team in North America to have scuba divers
assigned to helicopters 24/7/365 .
*** The Missions ***
In a police
department with 40,000 uniformed personnel, The Scuba Team numbers
only 30 police officers. But the scope and depth of the
team’s mission is remarkable considering their small
size.
The Scuba Team is based at Harbor Unit Headquarters Marina at the
old Brooklyn Army Terminal. It was there that I sat down with
team’s Dive Supervisor Lieutenant John Harkins.
*** Evidence Recovery ***
“ We have multiple missions” Says Harkins.
“However, the traditional mission of the Scuba Team is
fighting crime. Under this heading comes the task of evidence
recovery. Evidence recovery is a big part of what we do. In a
homicide where a gun was used, perpetrators might ditch the weapon
in waterway. Under this scenario, the local detective squad will
call us in to recover the weapon. Because we know what questions to
ask that will help in the search, we try to get to crime scene
while the perpetrator is still there. We take that data with info
from the on-scene field report. We then take bearings and begin the
underwater search.”
Why would suspects cooperate so readily with police when it came to
evidence recovery ? Harkins explained.
“ Perpetrators will often cooperate to a get lighter sentence
or as part of deal. For example; the former organized crime
Under-Boss, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano helped us find
murder weapons and bodies that where submerged off of
Brooklyn’s Sheep Head Bay.”
The bays of New York are not pristine aquatic environments.
Industry, dense human population and development create a harsh
diving environment. How do the divers actually find something as
small as a gun in river bottom of an urban waterway? Harkins
elaborates.
“Evidence
recovery is a is very time consuming and it requires a methodical
search process. This important because were we dive the bottom is
covered with muck and debris. Our search patterns are done using
what we call a “pattern line” A pattern line is two
grapple hooks connected by approximately 75 feet of polyproline
line with an up line connected to one grapple hook which is buoyed
by a gloseter ball. The two divers descend down the up line and
pull one grapple hook until the pattern line is taught on the river
bottom. They slowly search each side of the pattern line until they
get to the other grappling hook. Then one diver moves the hook
approximately one to two arm lengths in a predetermined direction
and they double back to the original hook. This process is repeated
until its time to ascend. One diver in the buddy team is always
covering the same area that the lead diver just searched, so that
even if he misses the object, the other diver will find it. This is
a very productive way to do black water search and recovery. When a
gun or evidence is there, we will find it, our guys are that
good.”
*** Narcotics ***
Thousand of ships enter and leave the Port of New York every week,
making New York is a major conduit for the drug trade. When it
comes to narcotic interdiction, competing law enforcement agencies
sometime have overlapping interests that often erupt into turf
battles. However, as Lieutenant Harkins puts it “We have a
long history of cooperation with the State and Federal governments.
We have always gotten along with the DEA, Customs Service and The
US Coast Guard… we have an excellent relationship with the
federal government.”
As an on-going joint operation, the NYPD Scuba Team provides dive
services for the US Customs Service. Because of this, all members
of the scuba team are cross-designated as US Customs
Agents.”
When the Customs Service gets a tip that a New York bound cargo
ship is smuggling drugs. Customs leads an inspection with the
assistance of the Coast Guard, the DEA, NYPD Narcotics Division and
NYPD Scuba Team. In these Joint operations, it is the dive
team’s function to inspect the ship below the water
line.
Underwater inspections include checking the hull of the ship for
“parasites”. Parasites is the term for steel tubes that
are tack welded to the hull of the ship. These tubes are filled
with drugs and contraband. Drugs can also be smuggled in sealed PVC
pipes that are lashed to the running gear or fin stabilizers.
The most bizarre method of smuggling involves using the rudder
compartment. When a cargo ship is unloaded, the 5’ x 8’
rudder compartment rises above the water line. When the ship is
loaded up, rudder compartment sinks below the water line but a
pocket of air remains. This is an ideal place to stash drugs.
During a recent inspection, divers found 110 kilos of cocaine in
two duffle bags.
A surreal
incident occurred a few years ago when an NYPD diver surfaced in
the rudder compartment not only to find a stash of drugs but two
drug smugglers sleeping on hammocks. The ship had departed from
South American a week before and the smugglers survived in the dark
cramped area by eating peanut butter and crackers.
Now before a police diver surfaces into a rudder compartment, they
use a pole-mounted video camera to visually inspect the compartment
and Divers are armed with Smith & Wesson semiautomatic 9mm.
hand guns which have fluted firing pins so they can operate in a
submerged environment.
*** Air –Sea Rescue ***
The Scuba Team
has important rescue function as part of their day-to-day
operations. At all hours of the day or night, three divers are
assigned to 55-foot dive launch. Additionally, two divers are
assigned to the NYPD Aviation Unit at Floyd Bennit Field. Last year
they where responsible for saving over twenty lives at sea. Once
such rescue was when a sailboat sank offshore. The NYPD and the US
Coast Guard searched all day for the victims. At dusk, an NYPD
helicopter spotted the victims, immediately police divers where
deployed in heavy seas and the victims were hoisted into the
helo.”
Lieutenant
Harkins told me of one rescue in particular. “A commuter
helicopter crashed and sank in the East River. One of the pilots
was killed in the crash but the other managed to escape. The
helicopter inverted and sank to bottom of the river. Within
minutes, an NYPD helicopter deployed our divers into the fast
currents and low visibility of the river. The divers descended to
50 feet and found the sunken commuter helicopter. The divers where
able to recover two passengers. The passengers where revived on the
scene.
Unfortunate, many rescues do not have the same conclusions.
Submerged body recoveries are an unpleasant part of the rescue
mission. Emotionally Disturbed Persons (or EDPs), are persons who
jump from bridges or piers. Each year dozens of people drown in the
water of New York City. Harkins adds.
“The search for a submerged body is similar to the process of
evidence recovery . When we arrive on scene, we look for an
eyewitness. Rather than just send divers immediately the water, we
get bearings from eyewitness and use our knowledge of local
currents and tides to narrow the search area. We do this in an
organized and systematic fashion; it is a more efficient use of
resources.
For example, a few years ago a prisoner escaped from the Rikers
Island Detention facility and attempted to swim the East River to
freedom. A Corrections Guard spotted the escaping prisoner as he
submerged in the raging current. The Guard gave Scuba Team the
bearing and distance of the submersion. Our divers then deployed a
pattern line and recovered the body of the prisoner on the second
pass. I was glad, this could have been one of those situations
where we could have been out there all day. This emphasizes how
important it is to get a good eyewitness.”
*** Anti Terrorism ***
The Dive team
has always had an anti-terror mission but that has expanded since
the World Trade Center attacks.
The President of
United States visits New York as many as 14 times a year. In
addition, when the president visits, he usually lands at the Wall
Street heliport. Since the Heliport is on the water, the Scuba Team
along with Navy and the US Secret Service do underwater searches of
the heliport’s piers and seawalls. The team also does bomb
sweeps of the UN seawall and uses side scan sonar for detection of
objects on barges and pilings.
To respond to possible terrorist threats, all NYPD Divers are heavy
weapon certified on the following firearms: Ruger Mini–14
Assault Rifle, H&K MP-5 submachine-gun, Savage 12 gauge shot
gun, and Smith and Wesson 9mm. semiautomatic pistol. The Scuba Team
works with the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force and is trained in
bio-chemical warfare.
Because of this increased threat level, Officer Frank Pellegrino
states. “We are giving more attention to inspections of
bridges, tunnels and national land marks. This adds more functions
to our mission; because of this, we are now actively recruiting for
more team members.”
Officer Pelligrino is the team’s training officer and he
along with fellow training officer John Drazal are developing new
course work to help the team adjust to the new realities.
Pelligrino adds. . “Because of recent events, we need to help
our divers become better acquainted with the different types of
underwater explosives. US Navy’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal
divers are currently educating Scuba Team members.
Navy EOD are the experts in underwater bomb detection and removal.
Our job is to assist them as spotters. We have a have a good
rapport with those guys and a good track record of working with
them. Training the Scuba Team divers in underwater explosives does
not mean that we are going to be EOD divers. But, during our bomb
sweeps, we need to be able to identify the different kinds of
threats and make it safer for our spotters. This will make us more
adept at methods of terrorist activities. We want to know how these
guys operate; what to do and more importantly, what NOT TO DO! This
will enable us to better assist Navy EOD in their
mission.”
*** Back to Base ***
There are many
aspect to providing security for a city like New York. The Scuba
Team is a small but important part of that. It is a challenging and
demanding job but its definitely not boring. After all, how many
divers get to dive at landmark locations like seawall off the
Statue of Liberty.
So after finishing the dive operation off the Statue of Liberty.
Officer Frank Pelligrino, exits the water and gets back on the
boat. Detective Kelly turns on the blue flashing lights and the
rigid hull inflatable rockets across the water heading back to the
base in Brooklyn. As we pass a 100 yards off Manhattan’s
Battery Park, the skyline seems like it is missing something. The
absence of the World Trade Center is an invisible scar. Like an
amputee that still feels his phantom limb, I still except to see
those towers rising above the cluster of Manhattan skyscrapers.
Without it, New York’s skyline seems so generic.
Frank is removing his gear, he gives me a nod, as he comments.
“ I am on these waters every day and after all this time I
still can’t believe those towers are
gone.”