The Police National Dive Squad (PNDS) is marking half a century of bringing something positive to times of tragedy.
Police’s first dive teams were formed in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in 1967 and later amalgamated into the Wellington-based national squad.
This weekend more than 50 of the 85 former and current squad members are gathering for events marking the milestone.
The work can be extremely tough, for example in fast-flowing water or zero visibility. It can be painstaking – searching for scraps of evidence under water to support an inquiry.
And it can be heartbreaking. The squad only counts two rescues from its search operations since 1967. The bodies recovered, however, are countless.
“It can be challenging, but there’s huge satisfaction when you return someone’s loved one to them and help them find out what happened so they can move on,” says OC Senior Sergeant Bruce Adams, who has served 26 years in the squad.
“In the earliest days, as they are now, divers were motivated to bring lost ones home to their families, to assist inquiries and find out what had led to a tragic event.”
In the early days, police divers used their own or borrowed gear and after a dive went back to their regular police jobs.
Their first major test came with the sinking of the ferry Wahine in Wellington Harbour in April 1968. The day after the tragedy the Wellington team smashed their way into the wreck through a porthole to investigate – and discount – the possibility that survivors were trapped inside.
Later they dived deep into the wreck to recover the radio log, which provided crucial evidence.
“Quite often you get well-intentioned people thinking they could do the work - it’s only when you’re put under the pump with jobs like that, that people start to realise it’s not that easy and the risks are huge.
“At every stage in that operation they were one step away from death.”
Police divers have been present at many other landmark policing jobs. To name a few: recovering the bodies of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe from the Waikato River; the Rainbow Warrior; and investigating the wreck of the Kotuku, which sank in Foveau Strait in 2006 with the loss of six lives.
In 1983 came one of the rare rescues, when divers found John Hutley alive after two days under the overturned fishing boat Jan. Then in 2006 Rob Hewitt defied searchers’ expectations by surviving three nights in the open sea.
Rescues might be rare, but the squad also seeks to save life before tragedy strikes. They visit dive clubs to give safety presentations – and the club members, recognising their expertise, are glad to listen.
Police diving has come a long way since the 1960s. “Back then it was the real fundamentals of diving. Essentially you were on the end of a line which was your only form of communication and navigation.
“These days we have lights, cameras, state-of-the-art communications, air supply, dry suits – equipment designed to work in that environment.
“But, at the end of the day, it’s like buying a flash racing pushbike – it might have all the gear but you still need the person to pedal it. That’s something that hasn’t changed.”
The calibre of those on the PNDS pushbike is second to none, literally in some cases: police divers have topped the punishing Royal New Zealand Navy dive training course at HMNZS Philomel, Auckland, more than once.
Today the squad comprises 12 officers and five reserves. “There were different issues 50 years ago but the motivation is still the same. You see huge tragedy and you’re trying to get some sort of positive outcome from it.
"There have been 85 staff over 50 years – that’s not a hell of a lot. But now, as then, they value the work they do and the difference they can make.”