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Whatcom County
Dive Rescue
Bellingham, WA

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This program is an extensive and comprehensive course which will prepare you to complete investigations involving weapons recovery, body recovery, vehicle and aircraft recovery and scuba fatalities.

Included within the body of this course is specialized instruction in such areas as, preparing for court, professional law enforcement reporting procedures and other topics which will enable you to report to the appropriate authorities in a credible and professional manner.

This course is taught entirely in the classroom. Rather than spend many hours at a dive site planning and performing one or two underwater recovery/investigation missions, you will view over 1,200 slides, and many videotapes which will take you on site to many crime scenes, scuba fatalities, firearm recoveries. You will see what the investigators have seen, and you will learn to identity and locate evidence and artifacts left behind.

You will actually experience what the investigators have done at the scene and during the follow-up investigation. There is no other course available in the world which carries with it the audiovisual component and the instructor-experience as this course.

Your instructor for Underwater Investigator will be one of North America's foremost experts on underwater investigations and the author of "The Encyclopedia of Underwater Investigations", Corporal Robert G. Teather.

With over 25 years of experience in Police Investigation Diving and over 500 underwater recovery operations, Cpl. Robert Teather brings with him the expertise to ensure the highest level of instruction and professionalism.

Included in your tuition is "The Encyclopedia of Underwater Investigations", which will be used as the textbook for this course.

The tools and techniques you will gain in the three days of intensive training will enable you not only to investigate accurately and completely, but to report and prepare your evidence for court.


Day One
The first day begins with using slides and videotapes (both above and below the water) this lecture includes:
  • Air Crash Recoveries
    • Locating the crash site
    • Air crash on ice
    • Recovering the occupants
    • Aircraft Hazards
  • Firearms Recovery
    • First consider Buoyancy
    • Firearm as evidence
    • Recovery of firearm and ammunition
    • Preserving the firearm
  • Skeletal Remains Recovery
    • What do they tell us?
    • Human or animal
    • How many?
    • determining sex, age, height, race.

Day Two
Due to the complexity and the seriousness of this subject, an entire day will be spent learning correct procedures and precautions to be taken in "Investigating The Water-Related Death".
  • Body Recovery
    • Locating - Last seen point, Current, Weight of body, last know activity
    • Entrapment
    • Swimming, Snorkeling, SCUBA
    • Industrial Accidents
  • Where To Look
    • How far is the nearest shore
    • White water searching
    • Beneath a waterfall
  • Postmortem Pathology
    • Observations relating to cause of death
    • The physiology of downing
    • Changes relating to item of death
    • Body cooling rate
    • Rigor Mortis
    • Cadaveric Spasms
    • Livor mortis
    • Anthoropophagy ( how the critter's that eat you)
    • Decomposition
    • Fingerprinting

Day Three
Scuba fatality investigation is a highly specialized field of investigation. Not only does it require special knowledge to determine the reason for the fatality, but in North America, graduates of this program have uncovered two scuba fatality homicides. It can only be asked: "How many others have gone unnoticed, in the past?"
  • Scuba Fatality Investigation
    • Interviewing the witness
    • Locating the body
    • The autopsy
    • Formulating the conclusion
  • Reporting Procedures and Preparing for Court
  • Course Conclusion


Cost for the course is $255 US for one to two persons $195 US for three to four person and $169 US for five or more persons attending from one department.

This is one of the best courses offered by Dive Rescue International. The instructor is the recently retired RCMP officer Cpl. Robert G. (Bob) Teather C.V. with his experience of over 500 underwater recovery operations, 1200 slides of actual accident and crime scene, and 7 hour of videotape this course will keep you awake at every moment. You will never look at a water crime scene the same way again.

For More Information Phone (970) 482-0887 ext.18



Map to class location
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