Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Before this thread is mis-interpreted I want to make it very clear that I support Water Patrol and all LEO's. They have a tough job and have to deal with a lot of big mouth idiots. I am of a conservative persuasion that takes my personal liberties free of interference from government and their agencies quite seriously...in other words I am kind of a tea party guy.

So here is what happened to me this weekend. I was slow cruising around 20mph with my family on board..12 of us. 6 of us early 50's..most of our kids in their 20's...one nephew 8 years old. We passed by the Water Patrol sitting in the middle of the lake. After passing them they came and stopped me. They were professional and introduced themselves. I asked if I should shut my boat off and they replied no. They then asked how old my nephew was..we replied 8. Normally he would always have a life jacket on underway, but did not this time. The officer informed me that 7 and under require life jackets and that is why he stopped me. He then asked me if this was a new boat...I replied yes and he asked for my temporary registration. I replied it has already been registered and his younger partner said the numbers are on the front of the boat. He then radioed it in...he then asked me if I had enough life jackets...we pulled out 20 of them to show him...he said thanks..then he asked if I had a fire extinguisher...I pulled it out and showed him. He then asked for my drivers license...and ran it.
Lastly he stated "I not going to cite you today"...he said he needed to fill out paperwork to document the stop. He then handed me a sticker that says Missouri Highway Patrol 2013 and told me to display it on my windshield.

So my issue is this...I had to jump through a number of hoops based on a erroneous stop. I then thought about his statement.."I'm not going to cite you today"...he had nothing to cite me on. So though the story is boring...I don't appreciate the way it went down, and felt somewhat harassed....hopefully the "sticker" will help avoid further contact in the future. I am one of the good guys! They were professional but it still bothers me and I had to clean my pants!

I have a huge respect for LEO's in all capacities. It's a tough job with not a lot of compensation for sure. But, I think some of them just can't help themselves with the comments Maybe he was trying to impress his young, probably new partner. The good news is, he had nothing on you!

We were out on two different lakes Saturday and Sunday, and I fully expected to get pulled over at some point, mainly because I still don't have my registration number yet. They were patrolling in one big boat, and three jet skies. All three at different times on Saturday made a pass by, slowing down and studying us, but never approached. No doubt they saw the absence of registration numbers.

I boat in PA, DE, NJ, and of course MD. In Maryland, DNR are all like that. One time I had a DNR cop ask me to open the cooler (he was checking fish). I had a bunch of croakers in the cooler (30 per person per boat limit and must be over 9 inches). Thid douchebag insisted the were sea trout (not even a closely related species). He went back and forth over this for about 3-4 minutes until his partner said I was right.

He looked at his partner and if to tell him to shut his mouth.


Then he proceeded to go over my boat with a fine tooth comb, even as far as opening every cabinet, physically looking at flare dates, fire extinguisher charge, etc. When he found nothing to cite me on, he actually sounded upset.

This is typical of LEOs in MD, from the state police to local cops.

I respect LEOs. My brother, brother and sister in law are all cops. This kind of BS makes them all look bad.

I'm glad that everything went well and that you had everything in order. I have only been stopped once on a boat. I was stopped about 2 years ago when i had my jetski's. It was 8 in the morning and the water was still glass so i was taking advantage of it. I went one direction and saw them before i crossed under a bridge(no wake zone, i had no wake behind me). I went the other way for a bit and then came back under the same bridge with no wake and they were coming towards me. I was getting ready to pass them and threw up my hand to waive. I was then "lit up" and they instructed me to pull forward of the bridge and put it in "neutral". Being a jet drive, i just cut it off and they then held on to the jetski. In NC they now require a boating license if under 26 years old and i was 22-23 at the time which was why i was pulled. I had had my license since the program started 4-5 years ago. They asked to see my license, registration, fire extinguisher, etc. They were not rude, just doing their job, but they weren't overly nice at the same time. They had nothing to cite me on and let me go. I saw them pull over many boats that day and they were also hanging around the ramps as i was loading up.

In my experience with the LEO's, it's always best to tell the truth and cooperate whether it's a wildlife officer or a policeman. I've been let off before because of pure cooperation and telling the truth when i could've been in a real mess.

Several years ago our county LEO's had to do so many hours a month of lake patrol. We also had a count reserve program and they had to do lake patrol along with officers. My wife raced jet skis at the time and we would get to the lake early and train for a few hours before the lake got busy. We had a friend that worked for a local fire station that would come out and ride from time to time. We NEVER drank alcohol while we rode but would take an ice chest with water and sodas. We had a patrol watch us for a short while and we were pushing the limits of the laws with our riding style but we wore all of out protective gear including helmets. They pulled up to the bank and asked to look in our coolers. Our friend said "no you cant" (we lived in a dry county). They went around for a bit and still our friend refused to let him look in the cooler and asked on what grounds and they really didn't have any idea but they wanted to make sure we didn't have any alcohol. He said you still have no right to search my possession and the officer said that he would just call his captain and have him come out and take his cooler and him in. Our friend said "call him,... Here let me help you" and called him for him. Our friend was friends with the county sheriff and had his number in his phone. The officer left and didn't say another word and after my friend told the sheriff what happened and how the officer treated us, he was kicked out of the reserve program. I have respect for them but they also should have respect for me and don't pull their power trip on me.

Around here (Mississippi just north of STL) A couple of other boaters have told me that sometimes the water patrol (MO or IL DNR or Coast Guard, not sure which) will ask if they can board. Once onboard they'll ask to see if there's enough life vests for everyone, including them. They have given tickets out for not having a life vest for the officer. Kind of a dirty trick. I've been checked a couple of times but they didn't ask to board. If they ever do, I've got an answer for them.

Also, if they see open bottles onboard, you'd better have every bottle cap, (but not any more than there are bottles) or you'll be presumed to have been polluting the river.

Sorry, but I won't agree it was a erroneous stop. You had an 8 year without a life jacket on. You never know what's going to happen. There was a story posted today about a speed boat that ran into a toon killing the mother and her 5 year old son (who was not wearing a life jacket, who knows if that would of made the difference) riding on the toon. 90% of drownings could be prevented by the use of life jackets. In Oregon, 12 and under are required to have jackets on at all times. I've been a resident of this screwed up liberal state all of my 52 years but this law I agree is correct.

I agree with chiil'n the stop wasn't erroneous the age of the child established the probable cause for the stop. I'm not familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction but I think here you maintain a copy of the registration and display the numbers on the boat. Your post implied you didn't have the registration.

I have no quarrel with kid's in life jackets...my nephew should have had his on, though not required by Missouri State Law to do so. This is not a thread about kid's and life jackets. I agree they should wear them even if it isn't the law...opinions on kid's wearing jackets isn't law.

So let me clarify my post a bit to clear up any misunderstanding...

I broke no law...after being stopped and my nephews age clarified I should have been sent on my way...no questions asked. If I was breaking the law then inspect away to see what other charges could be cited...again I was stopped to clarify his age which we did. After that the officer was fishing....

As far as the Registration...my registration numbers were displayed in the proper place on the boat. I also have my registration papers on board which were not asked for after the younger patrol informed the older patrol my registration was displayed properly. Bottom line is the older patrol officer was grasping for ways to write me up...

I agree also that they conducted the stop based on the 8 yr old without a vest. I'm sure they have to bring in a certain amount of activity for the day both summonses & safety inspections, especially on a holiday. So since they already have you stopped.....you got a safety inspection.
Maybe his statement "I'm not going to cite you today" was just his way of explaining that he has to write up a safety inspection report.

The DNR checked me over to Sunday for fishing licenses but it was unevent full, Their boat is slipped real close to mine and I see them all of the time. They were just out for their 3 times a year look around It was sort of funny, I was anchored up in a back water area that's full of old standing timber that's rotted off about 2 feet under water and I am sure getting to us they hit several of them. When getting ready to leave the senior guy asked how I got my toon back in here. I explained a few years ago I put to some signs to mark the way. And I showed them how to get back out. My signs are old tree branches about 6 feet long nailed to the old standing timber when the water was low, so all you see is a stick above the water. snickers

We were also stopped this weekend. 4 adults aboard, and we had just met up with some friends, and were chatting (also 4 adults, all 8 of us in our 50's or so).

The lake patrol just did the usual safety checks, PFD's, fire extinguishers, Cat 4 PFD, sound makers, current registration. I was really embarrassed, because I didn't have the PFD's secured to the top rail around the boat, like I usually do. No issues with the LEO's though. Very courteous and professional.

I normally am a supporter of law enforcement but what you fail to realize is that these stops are only to collect fines for the state. They have started stopping every boat on the lake numerous time a day. You can be stopped four time in less than 45 min running up or down the lake. They all put you through the same inspection and say the same things. It's not their fault they are sent out to write so many citations and make so many arrests for dwi. And they always get their numbers. This has been going on for the last 5 years. The only way they won't approach you is to anchor and put swimmers in the water, then they stay away. It's just for the money thats all.

They just instituted a slow speed "Manatee" zone on our inter coastal waterway. There were three police agensies out this weekend, Sherriff's department, Florida Fish and Game, and Federal fish and wildlife. Manatees are federally protected. My son was on the sherriff's boat and they did 23 stops Saturday and no citations written just educating the public on the new slow speed zones. He said the feds had a black speed boat with no markings just flashing blue lights and he doesn't know if they were giving tickets. A jet skier was trying to outrun the feds and they had to assist in blocking the waterway. Our two sherriff's boat sucks because it only has a 115 and a 150 motor and not very fast. There are a lot of go fast boats with large inboards in our area that are very fast. Our area on the waterway used to have unlimited speed and they just started the Manatee zones this year so a lot of boaters are still not familiar with the new regulations.

margaritaman wrote:They just instituted a slow speed "Manatee" zone on our inter coastal waterway.

they just started the Manatee zones this year so a lot of boaters are still not familiar with the new regulations.

Yeah, I guess you could say that Manatees are endangered because they aren't smart enough to avoid collisions with boats. Don't get me wrong, Manatees are very cool, and we should try to preserve them for future generations, but at times it seems like we're fighting a losing battle.