Following three water rescues by officers in the past two years, Lincoln Police have added water rescue throw bags to all of their marked cruisers. Captain Max Hubka says each bag has a 75 foot floatable rope and is easy to throw.
“It’s a very dense item, so it actually flies really well,” Hubka says. “If you put some muscle behind it, you can throw this 75 feet fairly easily. There aren’t too many locations where 75 isn’t going to be sufficient to reach a victim.”
Hubka says each of the 175 cruisers will soon be equipped with them. “Obviously, in those situations seconds matter.” He says the officers hold the rope and toss the orange colored bag to the victim in the water.
Hubka says officers hold the rope and toss the orange colored bag to a victim in the water. The rope and bag floats for good visibility in deep water and quick current rescues along with ice rescues.
An $11,000 donation from Sandhills Global, Scheels and the Lincoln First Responders Foundation paid for the life-saving equipment. Officers are currently training on how to use them.
