Sheriff Dotson and the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office  have begun the early stages of creating a Dive and Recovery Team for Lawrence County.  The team will assist in any water related search and rescue efforts in the county.
The team is currently made up of 12 members, 3 of  which are certified divers. The team will assist the Sheriff’s Office  with drowning victim recovery and evidence recovery. Sheriff Dotson’s Dive and Recovery Team is receiving grant funding from the Office Of Emergency Management for equipment needed.  The team is made up of volunteers from throughout the county including several Sheriff’s Deputies and Reserve Officers as well as trained  personnel from several fire departments.
Sheriff Dotson has reflected on the flooding of April  2011 and has taken the many different challenges into consideration when  constructing this team. This team will be attached to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Rescue Boat which is housed and maintained by the Lynn Fire Department. Training exercises  are planned to begin  in February of 2012 for the team. The team will focus on boat rescue training in the event of future floods, boat distress rescues in the event a boat in the county becomes disabled, drowning victim recovery, water searches and evidence recovery.
Also the team has benefited from several donations by individuals and Lawrence County businesses including a trailer donated by Donald Bunn, drag equipment manufactured by Hi-Spec Tooling of Imboden, tires donated by Carl Birmingham, and Lawrence County Dive Team T-shirts provided by Imbodenlive.com.
For more information and updates concerning the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, visit their website at www.lawrencecountysheriffsoffice.com  .
