River team keeps low profile in missions

The Niagara Parks High Angle River Team (HART) keeps a low profile in a job that asks for a high level of expertise and training.

“The need to go down into the gorge has always been there,” said coordinator of the HART team Cst. John A. Gayder. “Ten years ago I created the team to increase the training of this demanding job.”

The HART team is made up of eight park’s police constables that conduct regular police functions and are called in during a crisis.

“The team has extensive training, members are on duty 24/7 365 days of the year,” said Gayder. “We have extensive experience and knowledge of the area we cover.”

The Niagara Parks was enacted in 1885 with the parks police being installed in 1887.

Prior to 1995 methods of rescue were somewhat informal, said Gayder, but with health and safety legislation it was decided to increase the training and formalize the process.

“The department always had to deal with this,” said Gayder. “If somebody was injured what kind of training would we have. I took some courses and wrote out some standard operating procedures.”

Some of the main reasons the HART Team head down to the gorge include cross border issues, assisting the fire department in locating lost or injured people and recovery of human remains.

“We have to regularly retrieve skeletons of people who have drowned from committing suicide or accidents,” he said. “On occasion we recover victims of murder.”

Gayder said the HART team is usually the first group on the scene when someone is threatening suicide.

“It can be difficult because millions of people come to Niagara to look at the falls,” he said. “We have to gauge whether they are just enjoying the scene or contemplating suicide. Over the years we have developed ways to find out why they are there.”

Parks Police have the power to control the river through the Ontario Power Generation Company, said Gayder.

Gayder said the teams goal is to preserve the dignity of the victims and to treat every victim in a respectful manner.

A review of the parks police status as special constables by the ministry of community safety and correctional services will be coming up in June.