A training session with fins above 2000 meters uses at least 50 air bottles per person per year
"Frogman" Special Police: We can dive in any waters
In order to adapt to various tasks, the special police diving team members of the Anti-terrorism and Special Police Corps Diving Brigade of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau have to train their physical fitness and endurance.
Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, they are on duty 24/7 throughout the year.
"Our team members must adapt to various water conditions. According to the mission, they must go no matter how harsh the water environment is." said Li Xiaona, deputy captain of the diving team.
Attract professional swimmers
Diving Team Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger
In March 1984, the Public Security Brigade of the Public Security Division of the former Municipal Public Security Bureau formed a special team-the diving team.
In 1995, a diving team was formally established on the basis of the original diving team, and work tasks such as salvaging the stolen evidence involved in the case were added.
In 2006, he returned to the special police corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and established a diving brigade.
To this day, the diving brigade is still a sharp knife force of the anti-terrorism and special police corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
"In the beginning, our equipment was relatively simple, with backrests, respirators, masks, diving suit fins, no air pressure gauge, and heavy equipment." Li Xiaona told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter.
With the continuous updating of diving team equipment, depth gauges, compasses, diving phones, etc. were already available in 2000, and related equipment was at the forefront of technology at that time.
Later, there were modern technological equipment such as underwater handheld magnetometers, underwater metal detectors, and underwater robots.
"I joined the team in 2001. I never knew how to swim. I have grown up to lead the team to perform salvage and other tasks." Li Xiaona said. The selection is based on the principle of "voluntary", and officers who are willing to engage in diving work are selected from ordinary police officers to participate in the training.
Now that the conditions are good, the selection of team members has gradually tended to select police officers with diving experience. Li Xiaona proudly said, "Now our team is a hidden dragon and a tiger. There are also professional swimmers from the Beijing and Hebei swimming teams. A member of the navy."
Diver in the water. Signalman on the shore
The two cooperate with each other on a rope
It is understood that, unlike daily recreational diving, when performing public security diving tasks, the water environment is often very complicated, requiring special police diving team members to overcome psychological fears.
"Our team members must adapt to all kinds of water conditions. According to the mission, no matter how harsh the water environment is, they must go. Because this is our duty." Li Xiaona introduced to the Beijing Youth Daily reporter.
In many waters, the temperature is low, the light is dim, and there are a lot of water plants and even unknown objects. Performing tasks in such waters particularly tests the adaptability and ability of the team members.
"In such low-visibility waters, our team members are searching with their eyes closed," added Wang Chenxu, political commissar of the diving brigade of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau's Anti-terrorist Special Police Corps.
In 2006, a case occurred in a place in Changping, Beijing. The diving team received a task and needed to search for the suspect’s tool of crime in a piece of water, a 1.5-meter-long shovel.
Li Xiaona still remembered that mission.
"At that time, the water system was impassable, garbage and green algae were all over it, which made the water smelly. How smelly was it? Before we set out on a mission, there would be people onlookers around. The people stood 100 meters away. Hide far away," Li Xiaona said.
In such a water depth of two meters, two diving team members were sent to search for nearly two hours in a water area of more than 300 square meters.
"We were almost walking on foot, and we suddenly sank into the water." Li Xiaona said, "At that time, there was still more than half a meter of silt at the bottom of the water, and the branches, bamboo sticks and other debris hidden in the mud were countless. ."
Whenever a team member passes by, the silt in the water immediately churns up everywhere, and there are floating objects such as green algae on the surface of the water, and the visibility in the water is almost zero. The divers can only use their hands to explore the whole process.
During the mission, the diving team and the signalman divided the water area into several areas in advance, and searched by pieces.
The diver is in the water and the signalman is on the shore, and the two rely on a rope to cooperate with each other-the diver judges their position through the length and direction of the rope; the signalman judges the position of the diver through the bubbles on the surface.
"The divers will also agree on the signal with the signalman before going into the water. For example, the signalman pulls the rope twice to let the diver return." Li Xiaona said that every diver is also a signalman. They are exchanged according to different tasks. Identity.
In normal times, the players will also train this kind of tacit understanding and rapid response ability by blindfolding.
In the end, after nearly two hours of uninterrupted diving and searching, the shovel was finally found after removing many distractors.
At least twice a week in summer
2000m flipping training
In order to ensure the time efficiency of underwater operations, and to ensure the safety of the team members to the greatest extent, the daily training of the divers will focus on endurance training, and at the same time, through various technical training to increase the team's ability to deal with emergencies in the water.
"Although knowledge and skills are vital to SWAT diving crews, physical training is the cornerstone of all training." Wang Chenxu said.
Most of the daily physical training will be formulated according to the characteristics of diving, such as endurance running for practicing cardiopulmonary function, and flipping exercises that test the standard of diving movements. It is required that the knees must not be bent when flipping.
"During the summer training camp, we will lead the team members to the Beijing Suburb Reservoir for diving training. We set off on the boat and flipped on the flippers on the return trip." Li Xiaona said, flipping 2,000 meters training, usually at least two times a week. Times.
“It’s not a concept at all to play fins for 2000 meters in natural waters and run on land,” Li Xiaona added, “I remember that a new player used to play fins for 2000 meters for the first time, and it took almost two hours. When I went ashore, I couldn't feel the presence of my two legs at all, and I could barely move."
Even the experienced divers still can't easily cope with this level of physical training.
This kind of normalized physical training is a challenge for every team member.
"Even though I have been working in the diving team for more than ten years, I still dare not neglect daily practice." Li Xiaona said, "Because when performing tasks, the proficiency of movements is directly linked to life safety, and only continuous training can ensure life. Safety."
In order to further encourage and encourage players to train, the team will count the amount of training gas used.
The more air bottles are used, the greater the training volume of the players.
Everyone needs to use at least 50 air cylinders for training every year. In the 12 days of summer training, each team member uses up more than 20 air cylinders on average.
In order to further increase the time for the team members to work underwater, the SWAT diving team also requires the team members to be proficient in the underwater breathing nozzle technology to master the side-mounted diving skills.
"Side-mounted diving requires the divers to carry an air bottle on each side of the chest." Wang Chenxu said, "The advantage of side-mounted diving is to increase the diving time. At the same time, hanging air bottles on both sides can help people maintain neutral buoyancy. It does not rise or sink. When performing tasks, the team members can maintain the same depth in the water steadily to ensure that they do not hit the bottom and will not muddy the water when passing."
7×24 hours standby attendance
Complete the task while protecting yourself
As a police force that is available 7×24 hours a day, ice diving is also a compulsory subject for diving teams every winter.
This kind of training under difficult conditions has become a way to hone the will and enhance the ability during the work of the "big training" of all police in the city bureau.
"After the water body in Beijing freezes in winter, sometimes team members need to perform diving tasks under the ice cover, so they must have corresponding technical reserves." Wang Chenxu said.
Li Xiaona said, “During ice diving training, the team members will first select a suitable location on the ice and drill a three-meter-long triangular ice opening, because the triangular ice opening is relatively stable and not easy to be stepped on." Drilling through the ice is only the first step, and more severe challenges are yet to come.
"Anyone with winter swimming experience knows that activities in ice water will exponentially consume the body's calories, it is easy to overdraw physical strength, and the body temperature is the lowest when it comes out of the water." Li Xiaona repeatedly emphasized when talking about ice diving training. "Moreover, ice diving is different from ordinary diving. Normal diving can rise to the surface anywhere, but ice diving must return to the mouth of the cave. Diving team members who have experienced ice diving often have excellent psychological and will qualities."
It is understood that in order to ensure the safety of ice diving, the team members must follow the "three-one principle" during ice diving training, that is, when one third of the air in the air bottle is used up, they must immediately float up to prevent the diving team from experiencing complicated There is no ice mouth in the under-ice environment, and it cannot surface smoothly.
Through a high-intensity training system and a series of training measures to ensure safety, in Li Xiaona’s words, “The members of the special police diving team must protect themselves and ensure that they complete their tasks safely while performing tasks and serving the masses.”
Text/Reporter Ye Wan and intern Liu Xinning
Coordinator/Zhang Bin
Contributor/Respondent