Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 6/22/16. Hamilton County Sheriff's Officers prepare to deploy a ROV (remote operated vehicle) while working with other law enforcement agencies to participate in a Joint Port Security Training Exercise on the Tennessee River near Ross's Landing on Wednesday, June 22, 2016. Thirteen law enforcement agencies participated in a day-long training exercise Wednesday on the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga.
The drill focused on locating and neutralizing threats to port security, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. A half-dozen boats bobbed in the water near the Market Street Bridge for much of the day, while divers swam around the bridge supports.
Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond declined to say exactly what sort of threat the training addressed, but said it could be anything from an explosive device to a natural disaster that threatened the bridge's structural integrity.
Officers from the sheriff's office, police department and fire department all participated in the training, as well as personnel from numerous state and county agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the United States Coast Guard, according to Matt Lea, spokesman for the sheriff's office.
Hammond said the training exercise was important not only because it gave officers a chance to practice their skills in a real-world scenario, but also because multiple agencies were able to work together.
"The more practice we have, the more proficient we become," he said.
The sheriff's office tries to do hands-on training like Wednesday's session around three or four times a year, he added. It maintains a Marine Patrol Division with two patrol boats, as well as an underwater recovery team with six divers, Lea said. The team of divers has searched ponds for dumped weapons, pulled a stolen motorcycle from Soddy Lake, and processed an underwater methamphetamine lab on a sunken boat in Meigs County, Lea said.
As the one-year anniversary of the July 16, 2015, terrorist attack approaches, Hammond emphasized that training is key to being prepared for any additional attacks - on land or on water.
"This is extremely important," he said.
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com. Follow @ShellyBradbury.