Why water cops get a bad name
 

well my freind was in the wrong but WTF
a buddy of mine trraded in his cruiser for a small cuddy/run about
he had his waterway sticker on the cruiser and when hi picked up the run about he forgot to get new ones
On the way home from the Marina (he lives on the water ) a cop pulls him over. He show the bill of sale dated the same day offers to call marina for cop to verify he had picked the boat up less the a couple hours before but NO!!!!!!!!! Cop give him $35 ticket and tell him if he wants to fight it he we could beat it because he would not show up for court

Must have needed a few extra tickets fo his quota

Not sure they have quotas......but do know that most are a-holes.....at least they are in MO.

I was pulled over ealier this year for not having the sticker on the boat. We bought it last september but forgot to bring the papers and stickers along with us. It was the first time we were on the water this year. The cop called it in and verified taxes were payed, checked our life jackets and a few other things and sent us on our way. Not even a warning. Guy was very nice. I actually have nothing but good things to say about the LOTO water patrol. Been pulled over a few times and all of them have been pretty nice.

I had the same thing happen when I was living in Pittsburgh.
Was on the Allegheny, the morning after my 30th B-day.
Had 3 boats at the time. And hadn't used the Cruiser aside from setting it in.
Had spent the night on the boat, and decided to run for a short cruise just to make sure everything was good.We had had a party on the Cruiser, the night before, and had a tub full of beer floating in water - no longer ice.
Got stopped by the volunteer "Fishheads". It's about 10:00 am.
First question was "younz planning on drinking all that beer".
(the beer was warm from the ice melting all night) - I'm drinking water, and not even wearing a hangover.
Explained it was left over from my 30th party last night. They ran us through all the drills, safety gear, lifevests...
and then gave me (boat was in my GF at the time - now wife's name) a fine for about $115 for out-of date Ohio Reg. sticker.
Happy M-F'in 30th B-day.

Man, the water cops around here are cool. they might pull some one over and check for gear but they are polite and easy to work with, i was pulled over one time going to fast near a Navy ship and they just asked some questions and told me to keep my distance

Up here their pretty good, only been stopped twice in 10 yrs of boating......."can I check your cooler please sir".......is the first words out of their mouth before their even stopped.....as long as thats cool its......"do you have enough life jackets for the people on board sir?......may I see them?"......thats the only two things they care about.......open pipes??.....they dont care

ODNR sux i hate those party poopers

I've been pulled over by some nice ones.....and been pulled over by some real *ss H*les. Real confrontational, cocky, unnecessarily hostile. Just trying to get you to mouth off so they can take you to jail. I try and have everything as legal as I can. Have read the laws many times so I know they can pretty much do what ever they want to you on the water. I cringe when I see them.
They can ruin your day.

Hey Klaw, With all of the fast canopy boats on the chain, the cops are going to be watching everyone. First bad accident and the speed limits will come.

The real *****s around my local boating area are the coast guard,about 10 years ago Mi experienced several hi profile boating fatalitys so they had "the big crackdown". The CG and sheriffs dept would sit on the river and wait for you to pull out of hooters then immediately pull you over,full safety inspection,breathelizer,etc. This probably happened to me about 60-75 times,I was NEVER illegal or got ticketed,often you would get pulled oever 2-3 times in one day. It got real old and made alot of boaters very bitter towards law enforcement in the area. It got to a point where I was just outright rude to them and un-cooperative. Nothing worse then having a 19 y/o kid (wearing e-2 stripes,I was e-6 in the Navy) pull you over and treat you like crap. One night I just outright lost it,got pulled over at 4pm heading down the river doing nothing wrong,3 hours later heading out to the bay got pulled over again,suggested that maybe they could skip the full inspection being I had already been through it once that day already and passed plus had a inspection report to prove it,NOPE.3 hours later coming up the river in the dark CG was sitting with absolutely no lights on in the only area thats not a no wake zone,kept my boat on plane and went by them,they followed me to the dock. I jumped on dock,whipped truck up to ramp and started loading boat up,here they come pulling up wanting to do a third inspection,told them to fukk of and kept loading boat up while they tried to radio for civilian law enorcement. Told them I felt 2 inspections in one night were enough and to eat shiit,jumped in truck and drove off while they stood there with a stupid look in there eyes. Thats when I decided it was time to find some new places to go boating where you didn't have to spend 3 hours of your trip pulled over (my old boat at the time had under water exhaust and was fairly docile so it wasn't like i had something super radical). I also donated 500$ towards a class action harrassment lawsuit against the bay county sheriffs dept because the harrassment of recreational boaters was just getting waaay out of hand. You couldn't stop at hooters for dinner without getting pulled over when you left,it was just pure bs,and like I said,I blew the breathelizer countless times and was NEVER leagally drunk:mad: . By 2000 when I bought my new Baja 272 the harrassment had pretty much stopped,I have only been pulled over 2 times in 7 years of boating with it,Smitty

There's good and bad in everything. But can you imagine if they weren't out there what it really would be like ?

I seem to get pulled over every year. Hopefully its because of the boat and not my driving. Any way I request a full certified inspection with documentation which they reluctantly do supply. When they hand you the documentation keep it on the boat and hand it to the officer the next time you are pulled over. They send you on your way as soon as they see the inspection report.

Jim

I totally agree.

I was out of town once and came home late and opened the Patio door that face the water and heard a vhf radio go of so I walked out to my dock It was dark enough that I could not see it from the house and the Water patrol was tied to my dock on the river checking for night time drinking and speeding. they did this for about a year it did not bother me because I dont have a drop to drink on the boat. Got to know them and they were good guys. I think they all are decent guys and must go through alot putting up with the party that goes with boating.

I was just making the observation that they should do things to also help there image like they could have given my buddy a warning they new where he lived ,his boat is on a lift and they could have just come by the next day he is on the river sio they drive by his house all the time anyway

I told a cop that he must be writing me a ticket in an effort to win the color tv. He said "Nope, their giving away a microwave this month".

I do most of my boating at Grand Lake(GLOC) in N/E Oklahoma and I haven't had any problems with these guys. Sure sometimes you run into some by the book dork, but if your not an ass to them they are usually nice to you. At least thats been my experience.

My personal record, is 3 in one day. Passed each time but it was crazy.

1) U.S. coast guard
2) Chicago PD
3) Lake county sheriff (in Ind.)

they where cool but there has to be some give some where.....BZ

well..all in all..water cops are probably like the rest of us..they have good days and they have bad days..if your a drunken jackazz, they prolly wont be nice to you..if the guy they stopped bfore you was a royal pain in the ass drunken jackazz that gave them a really hard time..they prolly wont be in the best mood when they talk to you.. that said..some things just defy imagination..they gave a friend of mine a bui 2 years ago, then made my other friend drive the boat home...my other friend was WAYYYYYY more toasted then the friend they busted..now that makes a lot of sense...

I totally agree. Our patrol just wants to keep things safe, they're not out to harass anyone. I have been tied up in a line, and had friends that needed to go home, and they even played water taxi for me so I didn't have to untie:cool:

Most are cool as long as you are not being a dumbazz.

But the worst Ive seen is at Caesars Creek a small lake outside Dayton and Cincinnati that gets pretty busy on the weekends. The boat cops are women and they are tough half lesbo lookn biotches with guns and won't cut anyone any slack.

One day I met a buddy out there after work there is a big no wake zone connecting the 2 sides of the lake and that's where they always bust people. We where going through and his 9-10 yr old son was eating a chicken leg, when he was done he threw it up in the air and into the water. I don't agree with littering at all but they saw it happen and you would of thought we had 10 kilos on board long story short they took for ever and he had to goto court. My buddy was waiting in court and was about the tenth person called that these lesbos had wrote a ticket, the judge read the complaint and starred at the "Ladies" and through it out