Maltreatment By Homeland Security

[AirBoyzT]

Coast Guard Boardings and Your Fourth Amendment Rights, Part 1 | Sail Feed

^Good Article By the way

[Nicholson58]

are these the guys?

[forsailbyowner]

People please don't relate the coast guard boardings to what I experienced. I am boarded by the coastguard annually and welcome them aboard. They are courteous, professional and respectful to a very high degree. They go through a prescribed list checking for legal requirements and I've never had them digging through napsacks drawers and personal possessions. I consider them to be above contempt and respect them immensely for the service they do. They do not belong in this discussion imho.

[Captain Bill]

The only two law enforcement organizations that can board your boat without probable cause or a warrant are the US customs service and the USCG. The complicating issue is that the congress in its infinite stupidity decided to allow the CG to deputize local Law Enforcement Officers. The thug probably made your friend dump the drugs because he knew that a bust would not stand up in court as he had no probable cause for the search. Since Customs and the CG do not need probable cause they would have been able to make a bust. I'ld say this is pretty good evidence they were not CBP or CG. I would suspect FWC or County sheriff's without CG deputization (is that a word?) since they threw away the drugs.

[AirBoyzT]

Originally Posted by rognvald

I find it interesting that we have an aggressive marine policy for boarding recreational vessels without permission in our contiguous waters and outside our territorial boundaries (Straits of Florida) with a thorough search of the vessel and its occupants, but have allowed 20 million illegal immigrants to slip "undetected" into our country from our southern border and do not require proper identification/papers and cannot stop them on a routine inspection without "probable cause." There seems to be a contradiction here. Perhaps someone can explain?

The sad thing is in 1790 they meant for this to be specifically for trade and merchant vessels to keep them from not paying taxes. Recreation vessels back then were unheard of.

[jongleur]

BTW, what's CBP or HLS or FWC or DHA or...Did I miss any?

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by jongleur

BTW, what's CBP or HLS or FWC or DHA or...Did I miss any?

CPB = Customs and Border Patrol
HLS = Homeland Security
FWC = Florida Fish and Wildlife Commision law enforcement
DEA = US department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration

[Ofer]

I was boarded by the same black uniform guys CPB i believe in the west cost at long beach ca. they were on long beach harbor police boat since they apparently don't have their own vessel. they asked were i have been, coming back from Catalina island i replied. apparently the fact that I have been out of the us territorial water gave them permission to search my boat without my consent. they were pretty cold but not rude. I told them they can't have my lobsters and they didn't seem to laugh.

oh I was trying to call my group at the dock imforming them of the delay and they told me to put the phone down immediately.

[capngeo]

Ease up on the politics guys

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Ofer

they asked were i have been, coming back from Catalina island i replied. apparently the fact that I have been out of the us territorial water gave them permission to search my boat without my consent.

I'm no legal expert, but I don't believe that Catalina Island is outside the US territorial waters, at least not since Ronald Regan was president and the new limits were established. I'm not on the boat at the moment, so I can't confirm this on the charts.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Bash

I'm no legal expert, but I don't believe that Catalina Island is outside the US territorial waters, at least not since Ronald Regan was president and the new limits were established. I'm not on the boat at the moment, so I can't confirm this on the charts.

Yep. U.S. Maritime Limits & Boundaries

[Kettlewell]

Call the Coast Guard, using at least a Pan Pan, on Channel 16 and keep repeating if something like this happens and they are not identifiable or identifying themselves. I have never had a law enforcement officer of any type not identify themselves prior to a boarding. I am pretty sure they are required to do so, if asked.

[Caribsailors]

Very Interesting thread. Great read. I'll share my story.

I was commuting to my next job from the Turks & Caicos Island to the Cayman Islands,a Canadian Flagged vessel, a very nice sail. We departed TCI at day break with no wind and motored all day and through the night. We had spare fuel onboard so that was not a concern.
The next morning as the sun rose in the east we are hailed by the USCG. We are mid way between Haiti and Cuba at the time. (Sneaky cowboys, coming at us with the sun at their backs )
We were asked our last port of call and our next port of call and how many souls onboard. I answered all the questions and was told to have a safe journey and if we needed anything to hail them......
I tried to get the latest weather fax but reception was poor and the last one I had didn't look good for wind.
So I hailed and asked if they could spare 30 gal of fuel? I was told they would check..... and a few minutes later I was informed a tender would be by. Very professional, easy transfers, didn't even have to drop hull speed. Perfect training exercise for all!!
Thanks guys/gals
Hope I don't hi jack the thread but USCG and CCG, both are professional, never a bad experience.

Cheers

[Stray-Cat]

For me (as a Canadian) it's hard to relate to the mindset of the US
I like the weather,but I sure don't want to live there

Here is an example of Canadian enforcement from 15 years back when I was commercial fishing
These gentlemen show a friendly attitude ,don't you think
These officers from fisheries and oceans, are tasked with enforcing the federal fisheries regulations
They haled my boat and asked permission to come aboard
They used hand held video cameras as well as taking still pictures during the boarding
I grabbed my camera and took a pic
Lest you think this was just a friendly stop,it was most certainly was not
I was fishing in a closed fishing area illegally (part of a protest fishery with other boats participating)
They checked out my boat ,determined that I was illegally fishing,and handed me a court summons
Their attitude was great, and they received from me and my crew cooperation and good attitude in response
I think some of the us enforcement agencies should take into account that they are dealing with their citizens,and treat others as they would be liked to be treated themselves

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

Spoke to a German guy last week, him and his wife were on their way to Greece, AIS was on, it was a pleasant night they were under sail enjoying the evening.

He noticed a bright light above becoming brighter, a rope dropped off his Stb quarter from above and a marine slid down into the water, he called to the chopper via his VHF to no avail.

4 More men slid down into the water as he pulled away. It was a training exercise he learned later, it was performed by Swedes who contract to the Greek Government as the Greeks are incapable.

He was told that his AIS signal was all they needed to home in on and complete a pretend boarding, scared him shitless at the time but compared to this thread it was probably preferable!

The Cat was a Lagoon 440....

Cheers

There was a few paragraphs somewhere I read that "they"were wanting to pass a mandatory AIS for all vessels. Now i know why.

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Didn't Bush amend that?

Somehow the Patriot act is not at all Patriotic.

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

CPB = Customs and Border Patrol
HLS = Homeland Security
FWC = Florida Fish and Wildlife Commision law enforcement
DEA = US department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration

I'm sure you are just scratching the surface. Something tells me there are units we have not even heard of...yet...MIB?