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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Tue Aug 22 2006 - 08:33:59 EDT
I would also be interested to hear what Lee (or any other attnys on the
list) think of that approach. IMHO, that tactic would be very unlikely to result
in the cop leaving as described in the incident. Telling a water cop that
he can't enforce the local laws on your documented vessel unless he is a
federal officer is akin to telling a FL highway patrol that he can't give you a
ticket because your car is licensed in OH. It would seem to me that what is
more important is the location of the incident -- i.e., are you within
state/county jurisdictional waters (3 miles, I believe) or federal waters. It
doesn't matter if your boat is documented or not, or even if it is from another
country, if it is within the jurisdiction of some government entity, it is
typically subject to the rules of that entity.
HOWEVER, I tend to think that there may be substantial merit to the argument
that the water cop can enforce the laws all day long as long as he does not
BOARD the vessel. The officer can enforce most "boat laws" without boarding
simply by requesting to see your fire extinguisher, life jackets, etc.
Boarding without probable cause would seem to constitute an unreasonable search.
This runs into problems with local laws/rules that cannot be effectively
enforced without boarding, such as confirming the overboard discharge status of a
MSD. In this case, I presume that the argument is that the cop is just
enforcing the rules which require that he board and that he is not conducting a
"search" of the vessel. Of course, once the cop is aboard he is certainly not
going to ignore anything illegal or suspicious or out of compliance that he
observes.
Although many of use think of our boats as our homes. In the US,
(unfortunately) we are not legally afforded the same rights and privacy that we have in
a house.
JP
In a message dated 8/21/2006 9:42:28 PM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:
Lee,
As an attorney I would be interested in your thoughts about the legal
premise concerning this post a few days ago, if you are so inclined. I
certainly wouldn't start out with this conversation if stopped, but would be
interested to use it if I thought things were going badly.
Warm regards,
Jeff on Southern Nights
From a prior post:
Had an attorney on board one time when the water pigs stopped us and wanted
to board.
Advised the pig that since this was a federally documented vessel , he was
not an authorized federal official, any attempt to board the vessel would be
considered an act of piracy, and I would defend the vessel accordingly.
He did not come aboard, but did ask for a driver's license, which on the
advice of the attorney was given.
Next came a barage of quetsions.
After about the 3rd question, the attorney said something to the effect,
"Officer, if you have probable cause, book us, otherwise, this interview is
concluded".
Like somebody who had just lost sexual desire, water pig returned my D/L,
folded up his tent and left, empty handed.
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