Underwater Search and Recovery Mandurah helps people find items lost under the water

The ex-police officer with police diving training put his hand up to assist and managed to find the prescription glasses, worth $800 - and make a community member very happy.

From there, Underwater Search and Recovery (USR) Mandurah was born, and with it, an Instagram page advertising the service.

"From there I gained some traction and helped a few other people locate lost items," Mr Heady said.

"The amount of beaches and boardwalks in the Mandurah area results in a lot of lost items. Having a page that I can advertise or people talk about allows the chance of the item being returned to be increased."

Mr Heady, 27, who lives in Mandurah with his fiancé and dive partner, Emma, and their seven-month-old, Oliver, works full-time as an emergency response trainer and runs USR in his spare time.

He said he had always aspired to help people, and had started off in emergency response as a volunteer firefighter back in 2013.

He moved on to become a police officer in 2015 and was stationed in both metropolitan and country locations and was trained in police diving operations. He also holds a variety of recreational scuba diving qualifications.

Mr Heady said the "vast majority" of items he is asked to find are jewellery, however he has recently recovered a couple of mobile phones "which came out with no damage at all".

One phone, lost under the Como jetty - where the visibility in the water was only two centimetres - took approximately one minute and 30 seconds to find in 2.1 metres of water.

Why so quick? It came down to the owner of the item being able to give an accurate location for the search.

"Accurate recording of information and location [are the biggest challenges]. Most searches are definitely needles in a haystack. Being able to narrow down search areas allows me to thoroughly search," Mr Heady said.

He said he tried to educate people about the likelihood of finding their lost item, so they could manage their expectations - however he enjoyed the challenge.

"I have to always reinforce to people that the odds of finding the item are, in most cases very much against me. On the searches which I'm unable to locate the item I definitely hit hard," Mr Heady said.

"Items lost underwater very rarely move from their original location. Even items lost years ago in the river and canals are most likely still there. I'm always willing to try."

Sometimes, Mr Heady finds things he wasn't contracted to find - like rings, and once, a drone which was "clearly submerged for a long time". He said if he counted up the number of lead fishing weights he had found, he might have something of value.

There are strange things to be found in Mandurah's waters, too, like the open safe he found once, and also street signs, weather-vanes, umbrellas, and shopping trolleys.

He always does his bit for the environment, and brings rubbish up to the surface to be disposed of correctly.

"A lot of dives that I do are under jetties. The amount of rubbish and fishing waste is quite overwhelming. At a guess I would say we have removed hundreds of metres of fishing line, it may even be reaching into the kilometres now," he said.

"To waste the opportunity of removing those bits of plastic and junk while I'm down there would make me almost as bad as the people dropping it in the first place."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Mr Heady grew up in Singleton, near Perth, one street away from the beach. He said he loved the sense of community in the South West and water was part of his identity - something he was passing on to the next generation, his son, Oliver, who is "definitely showing signs of following our footsteps and absolutely loves swimming lessons".

While Mr Heady is currently focussed on working full-time and dad duties, he runs USR through social media and is taking the odd commission.

"I have no specific fee that I charge. When I am asked, I tell people to take into consideration their situation and whatever they feel is appropriate," he said.

What's something he never leaves home without?

"Coming from an emergency services background, I would have to say first aid equipment. I tend to over-prepare for most situations and first aid gear is pretty much number one on the list," Mr Heady said.