7 Myths And 1 Truth About The Search and Recovery of Drowning Victims
Setting the Record Straight
Myth 1: A Solo Recovery Diver Should Go Ahead and Find A Drowning Victim
No, a respectful and coordinated recovery operation that includes law enforcement, families and witnesses is optimal and respectful. This also adheres to victim dignity standards.
Of course, the overarching objective is closure for families. But, a solo diver circumventing the ethics, protocol and methodology of law enforcement and other authorized recovery outfit is reckless and undermines the effort and support. This is performative altruism. It might be fair to even question if its altruistic when the motivation is recognition, growing followers or money for personal use.
There may be numerous reasons for the protocols and ways law enforcement conducts a search, from dangerous conditions to suspect circumstances of the drowning or missing person. Honoring the full investigative process alongside law enforcement, first responders, and the family brings disciplined coordination to a recovery and aligns with respecting the family and privacy. It also adheres to vicitim dignity standards.
Myth 2: Posting Dramatic Videos Of Grieving Families, Underwater Recoveries or Announcing A Recovery Raises Awareness.
Awareness should be done in a measured way without exploiting a tragedy. Otherwise its a type of digital rubbernecking. Someone showing up uninvited, staging dramatic footage, or attending funerals for strangers is not compassion. It’s trauma farming in the name of altruism. Exploiting someone’s worst day for views or donations is not honorable. California Recovery Divers serves others and works only with the permission of family members and coordinating authorities. We do not make someone else’s grief about ourselves. Just like Law enforcement, California Recovery Divers do not use a victim’s name or image for donations, self-aggrandizement or status. We uphold dignity in every interaction with families. Our online presence exists to educate—not sensationalize. We believe the work should speak for itself, not be broadcast for clout or awards/certificates or followers.
Myth 3: Any Diver can Dive to Find a Drowning Victim
Wanting to be a hero or chest beating by an inexperienced public-safety diver has no place in recovering a drowning victim due to the danger, professional protocol, mandatory skills and complexity of the effort.
Most people naively picture diving as the same no matter the circumstances, water or conditions. So finding a drowning victim means having a few tanks, fins, mask and a caring attitude. In truth, no body of water or accident circumstances are the same. The water alone changes each minute, hour, day etc. It's never the same. Some water, like narrow rivers, are simpler for tracing a victim since a body will tend to be on the banks or in an eddy of some kind. Lakes and bays have their own significant challenges like depth, debris and obstacles like large trees and boulders on the floor. And, beaches and rocky shorelines have serious hazards of rogue waves, tides, wind and rocks.
Myth 4: Fishing or other sonar systems are sufficient for recovery missions
There is a stubborn belief that lots of recent model fishfinders from Garmin, Lowrance, Humminbird and other consumer companies have turn-key side scan features needed for finding a drowning victim at the bottom of a lake or wide river. But, the signal that goes out of a Garmin or any other type of transom-mounted sonar is at an angle of around 10 degrees below the water to the left and the right. That means there’s some area right under the boat that the sonar can’t see. And it’s mounted to the boat, which means it’s only good for searching really shallow water. Worse, without proper recording of a track, you might have a hard time finding where something’s located, even if you do see it. Basically, these tools only help look for fish, or the bottom right beside the boat in shallow water. In other words, you have what is known as the "streetlight effect," meaning you only look where the light is shining, right under the streetlamp. It’s too hard to look anywhere else. We posted a blog about this which gives a lot more detail about the limitations of a fishfinder, consumer scanner.
Myth 5: Divers Are Really Good Generalist And Can Do Recovery Diving With Minimal Public‑Safety Training
Fortunately, the tragedy of a drowning is something that most people and families aren’t confronted with. So the average person has no visibility or insight about those who are specifically trained in supporting law enforcement for drownings. This is a foreign discipline even for career SCUBA instructors, who really focus on recreational skills. Not every community has a public-safety dive team on standby but all law enforcement, in coordination with 1st responders, have protocols and a chain of mutual aid for additional resources.
The most experienced recovery divers are public-safety specialists who are rigorously and continuously trained, complete very specific certifications and follow the protocols and ethics of working faithfully and honorably with families and law enforcement. Many of these volunteers come from emergency services or active military, holding technical certifications and working within strict public-safety protocols.
Public-safety divers have a code of ethics and do not participate in social media or promote their work for their own benefit. They do not seek external validation for their work. They know the impact and honor the privacy of the family without fanfare.
Myth 6: Official Search Teams and Law Enforcement Give Up Easily
Everyone involved from the start cares about a recovery and doesn’t trivialize the need. They also know that risking the lives of recovery personnel for the recovery of a body in complex situations is irresponsible. Two deaths from a single drowning is doubly tragic. Family members of a drowning victim do not want another tragedy to happen.
In complex or exhausted cases, agencies sometimes hit a dead end or dial back on their effort once the search for a drowning victim has stalled after trying numerous search methods. It can seem like there is nothing else that will be done. Sometimes this happens due to hazards or dangerous conditions. While it may be uncomfortable to think about, nature usually supports the recovery effort due to the natural metabolic gases that cause a body to float if it isn’t impeded by trees or rocks. It may seem that law enforcement gives up by stopping an active search effort but they typically shift to surface and shore line surveillance, which is how some victims are found after 72 - 96 hours.
Myth 7: Real Heroes Risk Everything To Recover A Body
It can seem exciting, novel and heroic when we see someone doing something outside of our worldview or experience. Maybe they are doing something that we fear. But, performing stunts or taking unnecessary risks during body recovery isn’t heroic—it’s reckless. No diver or team should ever treat a tragedy as a heroic performance. Trauma farming is not what the family needs and it creates non-consensual content and additional trauma.
Law enforcement and recovery diving teams know risking the lives of recovery personnel for the recovery of a body is irresponsible. It is never heroic. Two deaths from a single drowning is doubly tragic. Family members of a drowning victim do not want another tragedy to happen. Unauthorized individuals who insert themselves into active or closed investigations—especially while filming or exaggerating their role—can undermine search efforts, violate family trust, breach recovery diving ethics and even compromise evidence.
#1 Truth: Families Always Come First
Thankfully most people will never experience the tragedy of a loved one drowning and don’t know of the heart wrenching chain of events that happens to find and recover the drowning victim. While its understandable that this inexperience and lack of knowledge is filled with good intentions, anyone outside of the family and circle of immediate friends should not amplify their trauma or exploit their trauma on social media. A respectful and ethical way is to offer sympathy without trying to own the narrative or get engagement on their own page.
There is a long standing understanding in law enforcement and public safety recovery diving that families come first. Respecting families privacy and trauma means :
Not cross posting a news story to individual divers with a call for help outside of a family’s agreement - a family controls the engagement with resources along with law enforcement
Not claiming to find or recover a drowning victim, its a team effort
Not videoing, posting photo or any kind of showcasing when recovering a victim - its tragedy farming
Not announcing the discovery of the victim BEFORE the family is notified by officials. If you aren’t a part of the official recovery you only traumatize the family more and sow confusion - its non-consensual content.
By putting yourself in the shoes of a family member who just lost someone to a drowning accident, you can consider their dignity, privacy, trauma, and pain. And, push back against the impulse to indulge in social media attention seeking and speculation. Maybe this metaphor helps to frame this a bit more:
Imagine your loved one is rushed to the Emergency Room and is undergoing surgery when a stranger rushes past the staff, enters the ER and starts to tell the ER team that they aren’t doing enough or the right things while livestreaming your family member’s operation for ‘likes’ and donations. Or worst, tells the followers that your family member didn’t make it. This isn’t news. This would be violating your family’s most terrifying and worst moment.
Our Code of Honor: What We Will Never Do
At California Recovery Divers:
We do not narrate another person’s tragedy as if it were our own.
We do not “rush to the scene” for online clout or engagement.
We do not film grieving families or private funerals.
We do not exaggerate risk, emotion, or effort to draw attention.
We do not make tragedy into content.
