DivePro - Info

By PAUL POST

GLENS FALLS - Shark feeding is Rich Morin's favorite scuba diving activity and he has the cuts, scars and gouges to prove it.
When it comes to evidence, he's also an expert at handling underwater crime scenes. Within a year's time, police and rescue divers from throughout the state will benefit from his years of experience beneath the waves.
Morin is writing a full curriculum to help investigators solve cases the same as they would on land that could make the Lake George area a national training destination.

"There's so many lakes and quarries around here," said Morin, owner of a Glens Falls scuba center, with 7,400 dives to his credit. "You can go down 70 feet in a quarry and find a whole network of shafts to explore, like a giant spider web."
He has an unquenchable thirst for diving's physical and mental challenges. His mantra is: research, research, research.
"I enjoy the teaching because we teach so many different programs," he said. "That's what keeps me excited. People ask me all the time, 'How do you keep that enthusiasm?' To take somebody who knows nothing or very little about the underwater environment and knowing you got them to the point where they can dive with a certified diver, that's a fun experience. That's where my love is."
How the interest began
About 20 years ago, Morin was asked to help with a drowning recovery effort that changed his outlook forever.
"It just kind of piqued my interest," he said. "What happened to these people? There's so much the deceased can tell you just by body position."
This is where the Jacques Cousteau in Morin gives way to Hercule Poirot, to whom every detail might hold a shred of evidence capable of solving the most difficult case. It's unpleasant, sometimes grisly work such as the time he recovered a 2-year-old child, but important nonetheless.
"That one really bothered me a lot," he said. "What helped was seeing the relief on the family's faces and knowing they had closure. Somebody wanted this person back. A lot of times we have to be the person to do that."
He's been called to numerous disaster scenes from the Lake
George Ethan Allen boating tragedy to the crash of TWA flight 800 off Long Island and a JetBlue crash in the Everglades. When the Dutch ship, Stellamare, capsized at the Port of Albany killing three Russian crew members, Morin served as the media liaison answering all reporters' questions.
The curriculum
Morin not only belongs to the Professional Association of Diving Instructors but is one of the group's most highly certified trainers anywhere in the world.
His new police course has the group's full backing and involves six different topics. They are:
ä Preparing underwater crime scenes for investigation
ä Understanding investigating
ä Photography and videography
ä Evidence collecting
ä Victim recovery
ä Vehicle and vessel recovery.
One time, Morin helped solve an insurance fraud case when a vehicle owner dumped his car in a water-filled quarry and reported it stolen. The person never expected recreational divers to come upon the wreck months or years later. Police called Morin in because he knows how to dive in tight, overhead locations.
He found a spare set of keys in the ignition that only the owner could have had and the seat and mirrors hadn't been adjusted, indicating that it probably wasn't stolen.
"Nothing was really out of place," Morin said.
To the car owner's chagrin, Morin's work helped lead to a conviction.
Plans call for starting the new course with divers from New York and Vermont state police along with Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties' sheriff's departments, then branch out to broader areas as the program develops.
Jeff Saunders is one of several South Glens Falls firemen that Morin taught how to dive.
"We've had several rescue calls," he said. "I do believe it's made me a better person, because it's good to have the skills if the necessity arises. We train together and a couple of us dive together. I got into it because of the fire department. It's become my second hobby. It's relaxing and challenging."
Jason Haarman of Saratoga Springs got certified two years ago.
"It's an incredible environment down there," he said. "I personally find it to be the most peaceful thing in the world. You do it with a buddy, but you're kind of alone, too, because you don't really talk to each other."
From Lake George to the Bahamas
Many people wonder why Morin, who's dived from Australia to the Bahamas, makes a year-round living in the chilly Northeast. Two weekends ago, for example, he spent most of his waking hours beneath the ice on Lake George.
"I get asked that all the time," he said, laughing. "The older I get the more I question that. I love the upstate New York and Vermont areas, especially in summer. It's so beautiful. I really like exotic travel, but locally Lake George is a phenomenal lake. It's so clear. Plus, in Florida, the competition is fierce. Dive shops go in and out of business all the time."
Morin gets to warmer climates by leading adventure vacations such as an upcoming voyage to Bonaire, off the coast of Venezuela. In the Bahamas, he's dived among ship wrecks and sunken aircraft used for James Bond movies. That's where he also feeds sharks.
"Regardless of what happens you've got to stay calm, regardless of whether they've got you by the head or they're biting you in the leg," he said. Clad in a helmet and chain-mail arm and leg coverings, he's never suffered life-threatening injury, because he knows the difference between man-eating shark species and those that aren't.
It's all part of the knowledge and experience that make him one of the world's most sought-after leaders for all types of jobs, from rescues to breathtaking recreational dives. It only takes three weeks to get certified for basic scuba diving, but learning is a lifetime process. It takes special training to dive at night, in confined spaces, with no visibility, at great depths or high-altitude lakes.
"Even though I've got 7,400 hours, I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface," Morin said. "There's so much to learn. There's so much I want to do. A lot of people think we just put a regulator in our mouths, go underwater and blow bubbles.
"There's really a lot to it."

Source - The Saratogian