Port Security and Law Enforcement

Services to Maritime Security and Law Enforcement

Photo courtesy of Videoray ®

Micro ROV Services can provide valuable, cost effective assistance to our maritime security, ports and harbours and to law enforcement agencies.

For Port Security we can help you to

• Reduce safety exposure
• Conduct hull clearance inspections
• Locate hull mounted contraband
• Check internal tanks for contraband
• Find explosive devices

For Law Enforcement agencies we can help you to:

• Conduct underwater crime scene investigation
• Obtain video of the undisturbed crime scene
• Recover evidence
• Provide divers with the scene layout before they dive
• Work in diver hazardous environments (e.g. USA alligators, Australia crocodiles)
• Locate victims or weapons using sonar

The safety of ports, harbours, bridges, and vessels is a top priority for any countries Security services, above water and below. Using Micro ROVs has been proven at the US Customs and Border Patrol and US Coast Guard, as well as Customs and Security agencies in many other countries

Micro ROV Services' portable system can be deployed in minutes and operated by one person. Underwater security sweeps of ship hulls and piers can be performed quickly, reliably, and without the cost and inconvenience of divers.

With the addition of low visibility accessories such as the BlueView ProViewer High Definition Imaging Sonar, positioning solutions such as the Tritech MicronNav and KCF Smart Tether positioning systems, and the real time video enhancement integration from LYYN, the ROV becomes an extremely potent underwater investigation tool against contraband.

Not only contraband, but many port security authorities are also concerned about explosives. Tests by the US military have shown that the ROV, with it's sonars, can quickly locate even small explosives such as limpet mines.

Contraband attached to bow thruster grill
Drugs canister attached to bow
thruster grill in Jamacian Port

Illegal contraband is often carried in canisters which are typically mounted underwater, attached to places like the bow thruster grills of large shipping vessels with a simple bolt attachment. This attachment allows the divers on the receiving end of the shipment to dive with minimal tools to recover the contraband. But, a quick ROV inspection finds the canisters before the criminals can, or confirms the existence of such canisters so authorities can wait for their retrieval and make arrests.

Capt. John Ulett, Managing Director for SAL (Security Administrators Limited (SAL), Kingston, Jamaica), believes that, “the VideoRay is an efficient and reliable tool for our underwater work. Where we once put divers in harm’s way, we can now use the VideoRay technology to carry out our inspections quickly and safely.”

Police launch

Imagine a crime scene's evidence lies just below the surface, at the bottom of a lake; not the optimal environment for evidence discovery and retrieval. Micro ROV Services brings out it's submersible remote-operated vehicle (ROV) and sends it into the murky depths, and soon a viewing monitor shows eerie images of drowned victims on the lake bottom.

CBS's CSI episode, "Gum Drops," which aired October 20, 2005, featured the VideoRay ROV. The characters used the tool just as described; an investigator guided it to locate the episode's victims.

Warren County Sherrifs with Videoray

Warren County Sherrifs Department using Videoray.
Photo courtesy of Videoray ®

In the real world this and similar scenarios are a daily occurrence. The ROV provides video forensic evidence, locates items the criminal thought he had disposed of and leads divers to a drowned victim. It has located drugs, found weapons and even explosive devices underwater.

Essential to crime scene investigation is maintaining the integrity of the site. Unlike a diver, the ROV can be guided to the evidence by the Blue View sonar with minimal disturbance because of it's small size. It can obtain a sonar and video record of the as found condition of the scene, recording it all before divers go in for the vital recovery. This pre recovery information is all evidence which can be used later in court.

The pre-recovery benefits the ROV provides helps to keep divers safe. A common problem in underwater crime scene investigation is the risk divers take in unfamiliar submarine environments. A Pennsylvanian news article about Videoray use in underwater crime scene investigation stated.
"On any kind of dive operation, a lot of times the divers are going out blind in what can be hazardous waters, With this equipment, they know what they're facing ahead of time."

The Videoray Micro ROV

Weighing in at only 4.8 kgs (10.6 lbs) and being only 36 cm (14.2") long and 27 cm (11") wide the Pro-4 is small, light and easily deployed. In fact it is literally "throw it in the water. At only 21cm (8.5") high it can fit easily into most submerged pipelines, intakes or outfalls and spaces which are unreachable by a diver.

Small but powerful the Videoray Pro-4 can travel at 4.2 knots, see with the high resolution TV quality camera under the bright illumination of two Halogen lights. If the water is murky, there is the Blue View sonar sweeping the area and showing in sharp relief what’s ahead.

Found something? if it's small enough the manipulator can pick it up, if not the smart tether allows us to position it for later recovery by divers.

Want to measure or test something? the range of accessories allows on the spot testing of cathodic protection, determine metal thickness, detect radiation, sample water quality, and take measurements with a laser.

The ROV is a boon to the underwater world – for photographers, scientists, environmentalists, search and rescue, law enforcement, customs and excise, dam inspections, tank inspections, commercial and offshore oil and gas installation and monitoring, fisheries, recreational divers, hull inspections for yachties and commercial shipping, inspection of wharves, piers, moorings and harbour facilities and many more uses which are being discovered daily.