Monday, August 28 is Law Enforcement Day at the New York State Fair. At the law enforcement exhibit, the State Police underwater recovery team conducts demonstrations three times daily.
Technical Sergeant Seth Little of Troop C in Sidney has been part of the state police underwater recovery team for 11 years. Ordinarily, you’d find him investigating or searching for objects underwater. At the fair, he’s an exhibit narrator at the scuba tank, allowing visitors to learn what he and his team do in New York.
“We use the actual equipment we use to give the audience, the general public, a better idea of what we do," Little said.
Little is one of eight technical sergeants across the state and is also a senior diver. There are roughly 70 divers with the state police who are called to go into bodies of water to recover evidence, objects, or at times missing people.
Little explains to fairgoers how state-of-the-art underwater equipment is used and what divers must go through as they conduct searches. Even members of the audience are called to participate.
“I bring the energy out to the crowd; I describe what we do as a team; hopefully get people to participate; and along the line, learn some things," said Little.
“A lot of people don’t even realize the New York State Police has an underwater recovery team. But we are the oldest public safety dive team in the entire country,” said NYSP Underwater Recovery Teach Technical Sergeant Neil Case. “Our own New York State Police underwater recovery team, something that we are very proud of and something that all the fairgoers should also be very proud of.”
You can visit the law enforcement exhibit to see a variety of shows daily. Scuba and underwater recovery demonstrations are held at 12:30 p.m., 2:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.
There will also be a law enforcement parade taking place later tonight. That steps off from the back of the Expo Center at 6 p.m. and heads down Broadway of the fairgrounds.