Marshall County Conservation Officer Freund certified dive rescue specialist

Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at 11:00 PM

By Kathy Bottorff

Eight Indiana Conservation Officers have joined the ranks of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement’s team of certified dive rescue specialists who serve the entire state.

They participated in a graduation ceremony held last Friday at the Indiana Statehouse.

To become certified dive rescue specialists, the officers graduated from the six-week Public Safety Dive Rescue Specialist School. One of the new certified divers is from Marshall County. Nina Freund was awarded her certificate along with the seven other DNR Officers.

They include:

Kenton Crews from Spencer County,

Caden Graber from Daviess County,

Claire Jenkins from Scott County,

Charles Martin from Vigo County,

Dylan Mast from Noble County,

Nicholas Hartman from Putnam County, and

Michael Montgomery from Parke.

During the school, students are trained to meet Dive Rescue International requirements, which include being able to do fully encapsulated diving with full face mask, dry suits, redundant air supply, and underwater hard-line communications.

The students were drilled on basic scuba skills, physical fitness, black-water diving, boat-based and shore-based operations/search patterns, drowning victim/body recovery, evidence recovery, light salvage operations, lift bag operations, vehicle recovery, deep diving, and swift water diving.

The school was based in Terre Haute. Training took place at the Vigo County Aquatics Center and in various bodies of water throughout Vigo County and the surrounding area.

Indiana Conservation Officers respond to and investigate drowning incidents, as well as all other types of water-related incidents, including evidence recovery, vehicle recovery, swift-water rescues, and boat accidents.