Natural disasters, crimes and accidents all can result in victims, property and important evidence disappearing underwater. First responders need to know how to locate, identify and recover these objects, all while preserving vital evidence. Cross International Search and Recovery offers AquaSquad, the best training available to handle these situations with the confidence and professionalism.

History of AquaSquad

In the early nineteen-eighties, James Cross, a young paramedic and firefighter who had spent several years as a river guide, begins working on modifying the first non-military sonar systems available on the market. Cross believes the sonar systems, designed to help anglers locate fish, can be an effective tool for underwater search and recovery. He creates AquaSquad, a program to develop underwater search and recovery technology and techniques and make them available to paramedics, law enforcement agencies and the military.

The unprecedented feat of finding the missing plane draws attention from around the world, and Cross leaves the fire department where he was working to concentrate full time on AquaSquad training and building his own business, Cross International Search and Recovery. In the following three decades, AquaSquad training becomes the standard for law enforcement and first responders tasked with finding and recovering important items lost underwater. With the addition

of sophisticated metal detection technology, the program expands into training for locating and identifying objects underground as well as underwater.

Now thousands of first responders all over the world have been trained in AquaSquad techniques. The training has been used to recover hundreds of human remains, thousands of vehicles, vessels and aircraft, many millions of dollars in lost property, and it has been used as an important component in solving countless crimes.

Agencies Trained in the AquaSquad Program:

• United States Navy
• United States Army
• United States Air Force
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• Kuwaiti Security Forces
• Mexico City Disaster Response Team
• Brasil Novo Airpuana Security Forces
• Hawaii Department of Tourism
• Iraqi Security Forces
• San Diego Search and Recovery Organization
• Officers and agents from hundreds of law enforcement agencies all over the world

How AquaSquad Training Works

The objective of the program is to make every agent aware of the technology and to enable them to identify the constants and the variables in a given situation that will determine where a lost object can be found.

The most popular form of AquaSquad training is a three-day seminar. The training environment is set up to give a realistic search and recovery experience to the trainees. Actual vehicles and aircraft are placed underwater, complete with mock evidence and dummies representing human remains to provide the most realistic training environment possible.

Trainees receive instruction in the use of metal detectors, multiple-channel sonar, side-scanning sonar, and multibeam sonar. AquaSquad teaches not only most effective use of the data gathering technology, but also the critical step of how to interpret the data to be able to identify what the technology is detecting. After this brief seminar, trainees increase their ability to locate and identify hidden objects enormously -- even those who had previously used the detection technologies.

AquaSquad Trainee Skills:

• Use a variety of location technologies effectively
• Interpret data to identify objects underground or underwater
• Perform basic recovery operations
• Preserve evidence integrity to allow for full investigations
• Work effectively with specialized salvage professionals