MISSION READY
About Mike
Mike Berry is one of the world's leading trainers and authorities in Public Safety Diving and specializes in teaching others how to succeed and survive in this ever demanding and challenging profession. Mike is recognized internationally as a Master Underwater Criminal Investigator and one of the most experienced Public Safety Divers/Underwater Criminal Investigators in the world with over 40 years of active service.
Mike has been a Trooper with the Virginia State Police for over 40 years. He served 12 years on the road as a road Trooper, 10 years at the Virginia State Police Training Academy as an Academy Sergeant/Instructor and 12 years as an "Area Commander" in charge of a field office. He is currently the VSP's full-time SAR Coordinator. He is a Graduate of the FBI National Academy and has been an active member of his department's search and recovery team his entire career.
In 1987, after seeing the need for qualified professional training in Public Safety Diving, Mike founded Underwater Criminal Investigators® (UCI). He uses his 40 plus years of experience as a Virginia State Police diver, 35+ years as the team's Operations Coordinator and instructor and over three thousand underwater criminal investigations as his training foundation.
Mike is the author of "The Water's Edge" which is the most in-depth manual ever written on how to conduct underwater criminal investigations. He is also the author of "The Public Safety Diver, Basic Essentials" manual, the "Advanced Public Safety Diver" manual and the "Underwater Criminal Investigator" manual.
Mike is a underwater investigation consultant and has assisted federal, state, and other police authorities in criminal investigations dealing in and around a water environment. Mike specializes in organizing and leading large multi-jurisdictional dive operations and has had the honor of being called upon to manage some of the largest and most dangerous underwater criminal investigations in the world.
In the winter of 2002 and 2003, he was asked to lead the FBI's Anthrax diving operation in Frederick Maryland searching frozen ponds for evidence relating to that case. The operation became one of the Country's largest and most dangerous public safety diving operations involving a terrorist act ever attempted due to the hazardous conditions and the size of the overall operation. As a result of his contributions, he received letters of commendation from the FBI as well as being awarded the Virginia State Police Superintendents "Award of Merit". He has also received the Virginia State Police "Superintendent's Award of Excellence" for his outstanding commitment to excellence and extraordinary leadership demonstrated as the Department's Search and Recovery Team Coordinator.
Mike is a Master Instructor for the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), a Master Underwater Criminal Investigator Instructor, Master Public Safety Diving Instructor, a certified personal physical fitness trainer, an Emergency Medical Technician, a Land Search and Rescue Instructor Trainer, a Ropes Rescue Instructor and a Swiftwater Rescue Instructor Trainer to name just a few of his qualifications. Mike is currently a First Sergeant with the Virginia State Police and serves as their Search and Recovery Team (SRT) Operations Coordinator, Head Diving Instructor, Operational Medical Support Unit (OMS) Commander and SAR Coordinator.
Mike has also published many magazine articles relating to public safety diving and lectures throughout the United States and abroad on these same topics and others.