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SHERIFF’S DEPT. ADDS SONAR UNIT TO PATROL BOAT

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RGecy:
By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, July 3, 2009 11:29 PM CDT

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department has a new tool to assist them in locating drowning victims and stolen property that might have been dumped in the river.

Operations Commander Major Greg Bolin said a side imaging sonar unit has been installed on one of the department’s patrol boats, and early experiments indicate it’s going to be a benefit to the department.

“We’ve tried other things like underwater cameras and while we’ve still got them, with this sonar unit, we don’t have to rely on sight alone,” Bolin said. “We’re pretty confident that we’re going to be able to recognize a body, or even a stolen car on the bottom of the river.”

The idea that resulted in the purchase of the new sonar unit came after deputies were sent to the Warren area in May to help locate the victim of a drowning trapped in a vehicle after heavy rains.

The victim, LaTasha Strong, 32, of Warren, was discovered May 11. She was a passenger in a vehicle found submerged in flooded waters following a 34-hour search near the Flat Branch Creek bridge in Bradley County.

“The family asked us to come help so we sent one boat, and then a couple of weeks later, they sent a letter to The Commercial thanking us for getting involved,” Bolin said. “We got to talking about what we could do to make the job easier and some of our guys who are avid fishermen brought up the idea of a sonar unit, which a lot of fishermen use now.”

Search and rescue

After discussing the idea further, the department found a sonar unit made by Humminbird which is especially made for search and rescue operations, and bought it with grant funds.

“It’s got a transducer that’s been mounted on the bottom of the boat that will allow us to see an outline of anything within 150 feet on either side of the boat, plus GPS charting and mapping features so if we do spot something, we can go right back to that spot,” he said.

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