CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Imagine seeing an alligator while you are kayaking in the mangroves and as you attempt to get away you get lost. Well, that is what happened to two kayakers last week near Buzzard Bay.
Cape Coral Police Department releasing body camera footage of water rescue that took place on Nov. 7. And while it may look relatively routine, it is how the police department were able to find them and get them safely came down to the initial 911 call.
“Luckily, they had a charged cell phone, and we have a very good GPS locator that can kind of pinpoint a roundabout location of where people are,” said Ofc. Mercedes Phillips, CCPD Public Information Officer.
But that location was deep in the mangroves and in shallow water. Not a place where the departments marine unit could reach easily. That is where the Cape 911 dispatcher stepped up.
“She was able to direct them out to a deeper area of water,” said Ofc. Phillips.
Using mapping software and a bit of quick wit, the dispatcher navigated the lost kayakers through the mangroves to safety. But Ofc. Phillips says, this isn’t exacting something dispatchers train for.
““She is did an excellent job of really using all of her resources, calming them down, using longitude, latitude, different cellular devices, mapping techniques, everything like that. They aren’t necessarily trained on it, but she was able to take what she had, and she ran with it to get them to safety,” said Ofc. Phillips.
Cape Coral Police Department will be honoring the dispatcher with an accommodation for her effort in this rescue. Thankfully more kayakers in this case were located safely with no serious medical complaints other than a bit of dehydration.
