By Suzanne Hobbs

A new and very valuable state of the art tool for the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office was involved in some special training to be ready for when it's needed.

The Aquatic Rescue Team was at Ririe Reservoir to learn how to use this remote operated underwater robot that's equipped with sonar and a camera. It will help in all sorts of situations from water rescues to recovering evidence.

Several items were put into the water and then team members tried to locate them. It's a good practice for the real thing.

The sheriff's office has been saving for years to buy this 50 thousand dollar piece of equipment. It will not only allow them to get into places that are not easily accessible with divers it will also make it safer for those rescuers.

Doug Metcalf: "It can go and see where we can't where we can only go along the bottom and feel with our hands this can see up to 300 feet and a 360 degree radius. It can search a lot more area and it can stay down all day where our divers they can only be down for a certain amount of time before they have to come up."

This new sonar equipment has already been used in two underwater searches this summer for missing boaters.