The South Australia Police (SAPOL) Water Operations Unit recently conducted deepwater diver training in Limestone Coast sinkholes.

SAPOL was joined by New South Wales Police divers for the training, which took place over a week in Kilsby, One Tree, Allendale and The Shaft sinkholes.

Brevet Sergeant Tristan Shaw said the training provided great skills and familiarisation with the sinkholes in the area and allowed them to experience different diving conditions.

“There have been a few incidents over the years that we have had to respond to, so it just helps the members be familiar with those sinkholes for future jobs that may arise,” he said.

“Every sinkhole offers something different; it assists in our development experiencing different diving situations.”

Senior Sergeant Josh Heinze said the occupational divers were required to maintain certain standards in their training.

“Attending the caves like Kilsby’s just gives them access to dive at the depth they need to dive to maintain the diving training standards,” he said.

Sgt Shaw said the divers must maintain a certain number of dives and achieve deepwater dives between 30 to 50m.

“The sinkholes offer that capability for us, it improves our skills as part of that, it also backs up the equipment that we use, the diving we are doing is all done correctly with the right equipment,” he said.

“We did familiarisation dives in there, but we also conducted scenario-based training as well.”

Sgt Heinze said Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland had also attended the trainings previously and said it was a great opportunity for members from different states to share ideas.

“We use slightly different equipment to what they use so it just opens up our eyes and their eyes to different equipment available,” he said.

“An event also happened many years ago where we have called on interstate divers to support our operations and vice versa.

“It just builds that trust and familiarity between the units that we can operate together if the operation required it.”