Meet the Multi-Faceted Cpl. David Marshall: Diver, Firefighter, Police Officer

Wednesday, 05 August 2009
Contact: Marguerite Elicone

On a warm July evening 11 years ago, Harbor Police officer David Marshall was headed into the department’s Shelter Island station to begin working his graveyard shift.  San Diego Bay was calm, as it usually is at that time of night, when things suddenly changed.

A man who had been in a road rage accident and fled the scene had boarded a fishing vessel docked in the bay and begun speeding away with the boat’s lights off.

Marshall and his partner, Officer Bob Adauto, swung into action.  They and other Harbor Police officers tailed the man across the dark waters in their Harbor Police boats, closing fast.  Ignoring the officers’ demands to stop, the man instead began loading an M-4 rifle: a military assault weapon.

Not wanting to accidentally harm other boaters by engaging in a gun battle, Marshall and Adauto subdued the suspect using volleys from the water cannon on their police boat.  The man surrendered and was later sent to prison after convictions on several charges.

But that’s not the end.  After the man’s release about  a year later, he returned to thank the Harbor Police and to apologize for the incident.  He was a recovering alcoholic who was on a binge on the night of his arrest.

Marshall, who is now a corporal, says not every one of his shifts is as adrenaline-pumping.  But such nights make him realize how his job in law enforcement can change lives for the better.

“You see a lot of good things and a lot of bad things,” he said.  “You just learn to cope with it.”

As a Harbor Police diver, Marshall is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  He carries around a sizeable load of diving gear that he must keep with him at all times.

His work is challenging, he and his fellow divers are often called out to do security sweeps around the terminals before military offloads.  Sometimes they work with the Navy’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal team to search vessel hulls for possible explosives.  They often work with other law enforcement agencies on rescue and recovery efforts.

In March 2007, Marshall and some of his fellow divers were called out to assist the San Diego County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Dive Team.  Three men were fishing on Lake Henshaw when their boat capsized during a storm.  Unfortunately, the three men were found dead.

The dive team also works with San Diego lifeguards and fire fighters in regional emergency exercises.  One such exercise simulated a sinking of a cruise vessel.  Using the sunken destroyer HMCS Yukon, which serves as an artificial reef off the coast of San Diego, Marshall and his fellow divers practiced underwater evidence recovery techniques.

Marshall, who spent eight months in the Gulf War during the early 90s doing intelligence work for the U.S. Army, enjoys the suspense of his job as a Harbor Police corporal.

“I love the variety, I never know what I’m going to do when I come to work,” he said.

At times he is a firefighter and has worked four major fires since he joined the police force in Feb. 1995.  The San Diego Fire Department looks to the Harbor Police for marina and vessel fire fighting knowledge.  The two departments often work together.

Marshall’s favorite part of the job is being out on the water.  The Harbor Police always have two police boats with two officers on each patrolling San Diego Bay 24 hours a day.  They have four patrol/firefighting vessels and three fast-response vessels.

Marshall’s Harbor Police uniform is adorned with two bar pins.  These signify the two lives he has saved while on duty.  The first life he saved was during a county-wide police incident that happened on Dec. 31, 2007.  He was on patrol with Officer Brad Wiebke on San Diego Bay when a suspect and a K-9 from the Oceanside Police Department fell over the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge.  Marshall and Wiebke pulled the suspect and the K-9 from the water and were able to revive the suspect.  They tried to revive the police dog, but were unsuccessful.

The second time Marshall helped save a life was last August.  Marshall was called to assist Officers Pedro Arce and Eric Willms with a heart attack victim.  Marshall assisted with the automatic external defibrillator and the officers were able to keep the victim stable until he was transferred to a local hospital.

Marshall is a lifelong learner.  He graduated with a degree in history from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois before he began his police career.  He stays current on case law and current law enforcement trends, as well as the latest defensive tactics and search and seizure techniques.

He says his job makes him realize the importance of life and makes him appreciate his family and loved ones every day.  Although he has to lug his heavy diving equipment and his cell phone with him everywhere, he doesn’t mind.  When he walks in the door of his home and sees the faces of his wife and five children, the job is forgotten, if only for a while.

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