Fl law require probable cause to board.

[Rough Magic]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Guess you never had your boat rammed by a cc nor had your granddaughter shoved aside as the stormtroopers wanted to check out her teddy bear? Or some friends of color who were detained for 12 hours because they did not have "proof" they were really us citizens. Embarrassiing because the white crew were not asked to prove anything. Even worse, the friends were fellow surgeons at Walter Reed Hospital.

Nope, only bad experiences with these para military types. Very soviet.

That's absolutely unacceptable behavior from the men and women sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the US for ALL citizens. I hope your friends were able to get at least some redress in answer to their complaints.

You're right, I've never had them ram my boat. I've not heard of that happening to anyone I know.

I never go out on the water without my passport, not even over to the nearby coastal islands. I am an American of mixed race descent; my need for positive ID is just the country we live in; it could use some improvement, still, I would live nowhere else.

[hellosailor]

"sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the US for ALL citizens"
Somewhere around '68 or '69, some clever pollsters in Boston, IIRC from Harvard, went around those same citizens at random, on the street, and read them some paragraphs and then asked them what was being read. Answer #1 was "The Communist Manifesto?"


Sadly, it was that mythological Constitution.


Do you think the folks who blithely follow the order to "repeat after me" and protect it, have any better idea of what that document says?


Or, as I recall, "You're not from around here, are you?" has always been probable cause for most folks. (sigh.)

[Viedeau]

Originally Posted by natraps116

A good start, I was pulled over 3 times in two months for "safety inspections" in ft Lauderdale

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USCG or other? Coast guard gave me an inspection receipt that I could show anyone trying to inspect for year

[FSMike]

In Florida, back in the days when the FWC was still called the Florida Marine Patrol, I lost all respect for them when I found out they did not monitor vhf channel 16. It was impossible to get any help from them. They are just another revenue source.

Can you imagine your local sheriff's office having an unlisted number?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Out of curiousity...has anyone complaining had a USCGAux safety sticker on their boat?
That's usually been interpreted, even by overzealous locals, as "Go 'way son, you'll get more money from somebody else".


Good PR for an elected politician in an election year, though.

The sticker is not a legal requirement so harassing people who don't get one is absolutely wrong and not probably cause.

[Nicholson58]

We always get a free CG-AUX inspection & sticker every year. We also operate with Class B AIS. In 6 years, we have only once been approached by any official - never boarded.

Keep that CG-AUX paper checklist and use it to make sure the items of importance (to them) are easily located when they ask. I inventory all safety equipment and document it at the beginning of each sailing season as the first entry in the Log Book.

The State of Ohio enacted legislation requiring Probable Cause. There had been numerous incidents of local water-cops harassing boaters at every village as they transited the Lake Erie shore. One notable power boater was stopped & boarded five times between Toledo & Cleveland. I haven't heard of any new events.

[natraps116]

Originally Posted by WindwardPrinces

Was this before or after you went to Cuba?

Before.

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[jmschmidt]

We don't need a new state or federal law, we need these revenue hungry, jack-booted thugs to be forced to follow the Constitution and recent court rulings. Actually, we could use a new law, one that says if any law enforcement officer interferw with anyones constitutional rights they, as individuals along with their agencies, will be charged with a $100,000 fine to be paid to the agreved party. If a recent court ruling prohibits New York cops from searching the cell phones of a known drug dealers without probably cause, this protection should certainly extend to law abiding boat owners.

[jmschmidt]

You don't need a new law in FL or anywhere else. Federal courts have already ruled the New York cops can't stop and search the cell phones of even known drug dealers without probably cause. This simple concept in law applies to everyone even boaters.

It invalidates state laws that may provide for search and siezeure as a benefit for charging you to register your boat and pay taxes on it in various states that have personal property taxes. The only agency that can board and search a documented vessel under any law is the US Coast Guard. Now will every two-bit water cop try? Of course they will, they don't care what the law and the courts have said.