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Why wasn't Officer Lehner wearing a GPS during his dive?

Posted at 11:23 PM, Oct 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-18 23:23:38-04

Many viewers have been asking why Officer Lehner was not wearing a GPS during the dive last Friday that ultimately took his life. The short answer to that, GPS units do not operate underwater.

According to Discover Diving owner Darryl Edmiston satellites for a standard GPS do not penetrate the top of the water. He also said there would have been no benefit to wearing a brighter colored vest as visibility was at less than ten feet. 

"Especially in limited visibility of five to ten feet of water I don't care what color suit you had on if you're ten or fifteen feet away, you're not going to see the diver" Edmiston said. 

Bright colored diving suits are only used to allow for better visibility on the surface. 

Wednesday night many buildings around Buffalo were lit up in blue to honor Officer Lehner and the Buffalo Police Department.