Hamilton Reef
05-22-2006, 11:58 AM
Boat deputies return to full-time patrols
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-9/114831090939300.xml&coll=8
Monday, May 22, 2006 By Steve Gunn CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
The boat cops are back.
Starting Memorial Day weekend, Muskegon County's marine patrol will be on the waters seven days a week.
That means boaters who grew accustomed to ignoring laws on area waterways could be in for a rude awakening this summer.
Muskegon County commissioners accepted $92,936 for marine patrol operations and $15,800 for marine patrol equipment from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The marine patrol program is operated by the Muskegon County Sheriff's Department.
The operations portion of the grant is about $27,000 more than last year. That means a lot of marine patrols that weren't on the water last year will be back this season, beginning the last weekend of this month and running through Labor Day.
The only problem for the marine patrols will be a lack of gas money. While the amount of grant money for manpower dramatically increased, the line item for fuel remained roughly the same, about $10,000, said Sgt. Gary Berdinski, who manages the marine division.
That means the marine patrols will spend more time with motors off or idling, rather than actively patrolling, Berdinski said.
"We get all this money for manpower, but we didn't get any increase for gas and oil," Berdinski said. "We're going to try to sit still more, and stay in highly populated (boating) areas where most of the traffic is. We're going to try not to do a lot of high-speed running around lakes.
"On Muskegon Lake, for instance, you can get a lot done by sitting still by the channel and letting everyone see you."
Last year, a dramatic cut in the DNR grant forced the sheriff's department to decrease marine patrols. The enforcement team shrunk from seven seasonal marine officers to four, and they worked only Thursdays through Sundays, the busiest boating days of the week.
This year, the sheriff's department is using the extra money to hire six marine patrol officers and restore patrols to seven days a week.
The heaviest patrols still will be on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, when three boats, with two officers apiece, will monitor area lakes. Officers assigned to lakes that connect with Lake Michigan also will patrol a portion of the big lake, Berdinski said.
There will be two patrol boats on duty on Mondays and Thursdays, and one boat on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Berdinski said.
The increased coverage will be a welcome relief from last summer, when many complaints were passed on to sheriff's department road patrols, and many boating infractions went unpunished, Berdinski said.
The marine patrols issued about 37 citations on area waterways last year, compared to about 60 the year before.
"There were times we were getting complaint calls, and we couldn't send the boat guys out, and it was killing me," Berdinski said. "Our road patrols are not trained to deal with marine stuff, and they have their own problems. That was one more burden, four days a week, dumped on them. Somebody had to answer the call."
The extra grant money came from the federal government, which sent extra funds to the DNR this year to disperse to counties for marine enforcement. There's no way to tell if the federal money will be available every year, or if it's a one-time gift, Berdinski said.
"Right now, we'll just take what we can get and we'll see what happens," Berdinski said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-9/114831090939300.xml&coll=8
Monday, May 22, 2006 By Steve Gunn CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
The boat cops are back.
Starting Memorial Day weekend, Muskegon County's marine patrol will be on the waters seven days a week.
That means boaters who grew accustomed to ignoring laws on area waterways could be in for a rude awakening this summer.
Muskegon County commissioners accepted $92,936 for marine patrol operations and $15,800 for marine patrol equipment from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The marine patrol program is operated by the Muskegon County Sheriff's Department.
The operations portion of the grant is about $27,000 more than last year. That means a lot of marine patrols that weren't on the water last year will be back this season, beginning the last weekend of this month and running through Labor Day.
The only problem for the marine patrols will be a lack of gas money. While the amount of grant money for manpower dramatically increased, the line item for fuel remained roughly the same, about $10,000, said Sgt. Gary Berdinski, who manages the marine division.
That means the marine patrols will spend more time with motors off or idling, rather than actively patrolling, Berdinski said.
"We get all this money for manpower, but we didn't get any increase for gas and oil," Berdinski said. "We're going to try to sit still more, and stay in highly populated (boating) areas where most of the traffic is. We're going to try not to do a lot of high-speed running around lakes.
"On Muskegon Lake, for instance, you can get a lot done by sitting still by the channel and letting everyone see you."
Last year, a dramatic cut in the DNR grant forced the sheriff's department to decrease marine patrols. The enforcement team shrunk from seven seasonal marine officers to four, and they worked only Thursdays through Sundays, the busiest boating days of the week.
This year, the sheriff's department is using the extra money to hire six marine patrol officers and restore patrols to seven days a week.
The heaviest patrols still will be on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, when three boats, with two officers apiece, will monitor area lakes. Officers assigned to lakes that connect with Lake Michigan also will patrol a portion of the big lake, Berdinski said.
There will be two patrol boats on duty on Mondays and Thursdays, and one boat on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Berdinski said.
The increased coverage will be a welcome relief from last summer, when many complaints were passed on to sheriff's department road patrols, and many boating infractions went unpunished, Berdinski said.
The marine patrols issued about 37 citations on area waterways last year, compared to about 60 the year before.
"There were times we were getting complaint calls, and we couldn't send the boat guys out, and it was killing me," Berdinski said. "Our road patrols are not trained to deal with marine stuff, and they have their own problems. That was one more burden, four days a week, dumped on them. Somebody had to answer the call."
The extra grant money came from the federal government, which sent extra funds to the DNR this year to disperse to counties for marine enforcement. There's no way to tell if the federal money will be available every year, or if it's a one-time gift, Berdinski said.
"Right now, we'll just take what we can get and we'll see what happens," Berdinski said.