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LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW) – The La Crosse Police Department’s boat patrol conducted a two-day training course on the use of sonar technologies in search and rescue operations. Eighteen participants from La Crosse Police, La Crosse Sheriff’s Department, Wisconsin DNR and a few others from outside jurisdictions attended the joint training sessions.
Tuesday’s training route consisted of all-day classroom instruction on the theory, equipment and application of sonar in an underwater research environment.
On Wednesday, the class got into boats and practiced their skills. Host Sgt Joe Wiegrefe of the LCPD Boat Patrol placed a series of target buoys with submerged objects in the river just south of the Clinton Street Bridge. Each student had the opportunity to scan the waters near each buoy to locate, identify and adjust the sonar imaging parameters in order to obtain the best possible image.
Wisconsin NR Director of Conservation Matthew Groppi stressed the importance of learning to use sonar systems, especially side scan sonar.
“We respond to a lot of incidents,†said Groppi. “Search and rescue, search and recovery operations or recovery of evidence. This forces us to use side-sweep technology. “
With multiple counties to cover on the Mississippi River and other waterways, Director Groppi of La Crosse works with many other agencies to assist with search operations, especially for their dive teams.
“We are able to locate this evidence and put it there,†Groppi said. “This minimizes the time divers have to spend in the water, which under certain conditions can be dangerous.”
Sgt Wiegrefe agrees that joint La Crosse police training is beneficial for sharing processes and procedures in first responder operations between multiple organizations.
“We are working closely with the DNR and the County of La Crosse,†said Wiegrefe. “And we’ve collected evidence with them already, so it wouldn’t be uncommon for us to work as a research team with them.”
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