FSU Panama City UCSI team training NYPD divers

FSU Panama City’s underwater crime scene investigation team is in colder waters this week while training divers from the New York City Police Department.

The training will focus on 12 topics, including surface supply diving, the DIDSON sonar, risk management and the CSI process. It will include scenarios, such as recovering evidence underwater and sweeping an area for explosives.

FSU’s UCSI dive instructors Darren DeDario, Jerome Fleeman, Mark Feulner and Mike Zinszer spent 400 to 500 man hours preparing for the trip, meeting weekly since September to modify and update scenarios to meet the department’s needs. The team also brought with them more than $250,000 in equipment for use during the drills.

They began exercises with the New York team Nov. 30 and will return Dec. 13.

“Training is a continuous thing,” said Zinszer, director of FSU Panama City’s Advanced Science Dive program and Public Safety and Security faculty. “The dynamics of what goes on throughout the world changes, your mission and your capabilities change, and if you’re not staying ahead of the curve, you’re not ready for these types of operations to be able to accomplish what needs to be done.”

This is the third time the team from FSU Panama City has trained NYPD divers. The team also has worked with divers the military, FBI, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation and other professional Public Safety Diver programs throughout the nation.

“This is a normal day at work for us,” Zinszer said. “We are the benchmark. People come to us because we keep up with the latest and greatest.”