How often can the Coast Gaurd do a safety inspection?

[BGB]

How often can the Coast Guard perform a safety inspection on the same vessel?

I have been boarded twice in one summer. Both times late at night. We all know what they were looking for and it wasn't to see if my holding tank valve was in the right position. One has to wonder who had been drinking. On one inspection report they had my first name completely wrong, Brian instead of Bruce and my last name was mispelled with three different letters.

So what is the rule? Can they just pull me over for an inspection when they feel like it? I have heard of inpection stickers but merely got a piece paper (no citation) each time. Does an inspection sticker stop the random boarding?

[Ferg]

How often can the Coast Guard perform a safety inspection on the same vessel?

As often as they like actually.



I have been boarded twice in one summer. Both times late at night. We all know what they were looking for and it wasn't to see if my holding tank valve was in the right position. One has to wonder who had been drinking. On one inspection report they had my first name completely wrong, Brian instead of Bruce and my last name was mispelled with three different letters.

Clerical errors, happens all the time, it shouldn't, but it does.


So what is the rule? Can they just pull me over for an inspection when they feel like it? I have heard of inpection stickers but merely got a piece paper (no citation) each time. Does an inspection sticker stop the random boarding?


Yes - they can board you at will, however, in normal circumstances, if you where 'recently' boarded, then when hailed to for a boarding, by presenting the recent boarding form (the 'piece (of) paper') you got would 'normally' move them onto the next vessel.

However; there are circumstances that are not always apparent in boarding scenarios, they could be looking for someone/thing in particular based on some form of intel, many different things come to mind - twice in an entire summer is pretty good. (Depends on location of course)

In fact, if you had rcvd a citiation/warning to fix something the first time boarded, I would exepect a follow up boarding to make sure that you fixed what ever it was they found wrong the first time.

Sometimes, it's as simple maybe as training a junior member on the proper boarding procedures and how to deal with the real world public in a polite professional manner - and until you put them on someone elses boat there is now way to tell how they will do - and a new boarding officer or a trainee is very very nervious with his first few - that would account for the clearical errors on your paper work. ;)

I hope they were kind and professional and your experance(s) were not bad.

ferg....

[BGB]

Thanks for the reply Ferg.

However it just doesn't sit right. There used to be some guys in Germany and Russia that entered other peoples property when ever they liked too! To me it equates to a police officer pullling you over in an auto for no reason then trying to find something wrong which is not legal.

Probable cause should be the rule not profiling fisherman late at night.

This was on Lake Charlevoix, basically and inland lake although a tributary to Lake Michigan.

[Ferg]

Thanks for the reply Ferg.

However it just doesn't sit right. There used to be some guys in Germany and Russia that entered other peoples property when ever they liked too! To me it equates to a police officer pullling you over in an auto for no reason then trying to find something wrong which is not legal.

Probable cause should be the rule not profiling fisherman late at night.

This was on Lake Charlevoix, basically and inland lake although a tributary to Lake Michigan.

Maybe this will help you understand the enormity of the task the CG is charged with, this is from the USC - and - as aluded too, the CG is THE single most powerfull law enforcment arm in the USG. Bar none. Here is the charge for that authority and the jobs that go with it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

REF: Federal Statute, 14 U.S.C. 89

Here is a little light reading :-)

In general, here's how it works:

The Fourth Amendment does not bar all searches and seizures, only
unreasonable ones. What's reasonable varies according to circumstances. A
search of a building must meet a higher standard than a search of a boat,
car or airplane because these objects can be quickly removed from the
jurisdiction. Such highly mobile items can usually be searched without a
warrant but the officer still needs probable cause.
A car for example: The officer cannot stop your car because he wants to
search it, but if he has lawfully stopped your car for say, speeding, he can
look into the car and inspect, visually, whatever is in plain view. If he
spots something in plain view--a bag of dope, an illegal gun--he can arrest.
Also, if he has a suspicion that something illegal is afoot he may, for his
own safety, pull the driver and occupants out of the car for a "Terry Frisk"
(from Terry v. Ohio). This reasonable suspicion is something considerably
less than probable cause but is allowed because the officer's safety is
involved. He can also search the areas in the immediate vicinity of the
suspect (under the driver's seat or in the glove box) because a weapon could
easily be concealed there and the suspect could get at it.

Another exception to the warrant requirement is the Chimel Sweep (from
California v. Chimel). Again, the justification is the safety of the
officers. If officers are otherwise lawfully in a house or building, they
can quickly sweep through the place, checking in closets, under beds and
other places where a hidden assailant might be lurking.

Another exception to the warrant requirement is the administrative or
regulatory search. (Camarra v. San Francisco, See v. City of Seattle) The
regulatory officer (usually not a cop, but a safety inspector or civil
servant) can go into a building or other place as part of a scheme of random
safety inspections or health inspections or whatever as long as the scheme
is truly random. While there, if he sees any contraband in plain view he may
or may not report it to the police who may or may not come back with a
warrant.

Now here's what happens with the Coast Guard.
The CG has authority to enforce federal boating safety standards, vessel
documentation schemes and marine pollution and fisheries regulations (random
regulatory search). To accomplish these inspections, they have authority
under 14 USC 89 to go onboard any vessel in US waters and any US vessel on
the high seas. But under 14 USC 89, Coast Guardsmen are not mere regulatory
officials--they are full blown cops with all the authority of the FBI,
Secret Service or ATF to make arrests, etc.
So under 14 USC 89, the Coast Guardsman can lawfully board any vessel in US
waters since he is not only a cop but a regulatory officer. But once on
board he is also a cop so that if in the course of his regulatory inspection
he sees, in plain view, some contraband, he can seize it and arrest the
crew. Because the Coast Guard has so many regulatory functions, the Coast
Guardsman as regulatory inspector can go almost anywhere in the vessel and
inspect almost anything. Once he is lawfully in a place and he spots any
contraband in plain view, he becomes a Customs Officer or DEA agent, or
Border Patrol Officer and seizes the evidence and starts arresting people.

To do a document check, he has to see the main beam number. So he can
lawfully go down into the hold. To do a pollution check, he can get down
into the bilge or in the head. For fisheries he can look in the fish hold;
for a boating safety check, he can open engine compartments. He is trained
to do all these things and to OMIT NONE OF THEM IN EVERY BOARDING HE DOES.
If the crew starts acting strange, making the officer feel uneasy, he can
also do a Chimel sweep, and a Terry frisk.

No other law enforcement officer, federal or state, has such sweeping
authority. None. Someone in this email usernet thread suggested that local
cops are sometimes deputized as federal officers and they then get the same
power, at least when they are on the water. Not true. ONLY THE COAST GUARD
OFFICER, WARRANT OFFICER OR PETTY OFFICER has this authority. All other
federal and state officers (except maybe customs) need probable cause to get
on board your vessel. And even though Customs might be able to get on board
without probable cause, they cannot go anywhere and do anything. Customs has
no authority to check Marine Sanitation Devices so they can't inspect the
head. They have no safety authority so they cannot check for fire
extinguishers, life jackets, flame arresters, VHF-Radio, etc.

In short, the Coast Guardsman's regulatory authority makes it lawful for him
to go on board any vessel and while there go into every part of the vessel
and minutely inspect it. If in the course of this extremely thorough
inspection, the Coast Guardsman spots any contraband "in plain view" he can
seize it and arrest the master and crew. Also, if during the course of this
extremely intrusive search, the master or crew start acting surly or
"suspicious" the Coast Guardsman can do a Chimel Sweep and a Terry Frisk.

Each of these exceptions to the warrant or probable cause requirement seem
reasonable enough when taken by itself, but because the Coast Guardsman has
such wide responsibility under federal environmental, vessel documentation,
fisheries, commercial vessel safety, boating safety and marine pollution,
the Coast Guardsman is the only officer who is in a position to use all of
the exceptions at once. Essentially, what this means is that the Coast
Guardsman is the only law enforcement officer in America to whom the Fourth
Amendment does not apply, at least when he is on a vessel.

HTH's

ferg....
uscg/retired....

[CL-Lewiston]

"If the crew starts acting strange, making the officer feel uneasy, he can
also do a Chimel sweep, and a Terry frisk"

Was ear;lier stated that the first boarding the officer can be nervous--how about the boardee? and that gives them other 'rights'??

[BGB]

It still seems an abuse of power to profile fisherman late at night and board under the guise of a safety inspection with the sheriff waiting in the wings. The sheriff can't board without probable cause (as far as I know) so he has the CG do his dirty work. At least that is the latest set up on some Lake Michigan ports. The fact is, I rarely see any CG on the Lake before noon. Why aren't they performing safety inspections in the morning?

With post 9/11 events it seems the US Government would have higher priorities other than trolling for drinking fisherman late at night over a hundred miles from any international border.

To me it tarnishes the image of the Coast Gaurd.

[boehr]

The sheriff can board anythime and a Conservation Officer can also board anytime and they do. Just you pick an area to fish where you see the USCG doing it. They all can't be everywhere at the same time.

[Ferg]

To me it tarnishes the image of the Coast Gaurd.

There are disgruntled boaters on every coast and in every port -

I sure hope you don't need them some time and there off doing something else, because I can tell you one thing, Search And Rescue, (SAR), always take priority over everything else, and inspite of your view of them, the'll kill themselve's trying to get to you - I can promise you that.

I'm sure your view of their image will be different that day if/when it becomes necessary.

They do their job - you have your bone to pick - I'm sorry.

ferg....