Though the Bridgeport Police scuba team in Connecticut has had a remote operated vehicle (ROV) for about four years, its newest model, a $125,000 ROV purchased thanks to a federal grant, has the team especially excited.
According to the Connecticut Post, the new machine will be able to skim the bottom of the nearby harbor to show the scuba team as if they were there themselves. Equipped with GPS technology and better cameras, the ROV can provide clear images and help the team make better decisions when examining a scene. While not an x-ray machine, it can display much better images than the previous ROV, and can even skim the water before the department finds a place to drop it.
"With this we can direct our divers to where they need to be, and bounce a sonar signal off of an object to get an image of it,'' Lt. Brian Fitzgerald, a police dive team member, told the news source. "We can drive it right to (and object) and take photos. It makes our jobs easier, that's for sure."
Not only does this make their jobs easier, the new ROV makes it safer for their divers, and helps those going underwater know what to expect and look for. So far, the nine-member police team has already found sunken boats and even bicycles on the bottom of the Bridgeport Harbor.
For the Bridgeport Police scuba team, having new equipment also requires new protection. With ROV insurance, police departments and others can know their machines are safe, especially when working in unknown and dangerous environments.