Marine Patrol & Dive Team

The Wheeling Police Department Marine Unit enables the Wheeling Police to patrol the 7 miles of the Ohio River that lie within the City of Wheeling’s jurisdiction. This Program is geared toward enforcing the Water Safety regulations of the State of West Virginia and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Officers of the WPD also receive training provided by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. The course focuses on boater safety rules, enforcement priorities, tactical boating and boat operations.

The Marine Unit works in conjunction with the Dive Team in evidence recovery and maritime investigations. The boat has been used for Safety patrol duties at river front festivals and during holidays where boat traffic is a concern.

DIVE TEAM

The Wheeling Area Underwater Special Tactics Team was founded in 2012 and consists of a total of 25 members from the Wheeling Police Department, Wheeling Fire Department and the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office. The team is governed by an executive committee consisting of the Chiefs of each agency involved and the Ohio County EMA Director. The following are some of the functions that can be performed by the team:

• Perform disaster related assistance when requested
• Perform underwater search and recovery missions involving victims, evidence and other property
• Investigate underwater crime scenes and all associated scenes in the immediate area to include scene evaluation, search, recovery of evidence
• Investigate drowning and diving accidents, as well as boating accidents
• Perform certain search and recovery missions for non-evidentiary property