Posted on 09/22/2005 2:42:37 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Two of the Moss Landing Harbor residents who were the subjects of random boat searches during Labor Day Weekend say their experiences were closer to armed invasions than the friendly "safety inspections" characterized by U.S. Coast Guard officials.
Both residents said search crews entered the harbor in inflatable boats with machine guns mounted on their bows. Then, carrying M-16 rifles, they approached residents and boarded and searched their boats in the name of safety and "homeland security."
One resident, who asked not to be identified for fear or retribution, said his experience was "very intimidating, very frightening."
"To me it reeks of Nazi Germany and the death squads in Argentina," he said. "I don't want my name on their list."
Scott Jones, a live-aboard resident who was searched, said there has been talk in the harbor about contacting the American Civil Liberties Union, but he first wants to hear further from the Coast Guard about its future intentions.
Lt. Mark Warren of the Monterey Coast Guard Station said he has heard mostly positive response to the operation, but may rethink future actions given current criticisms.
"We take lessons and learn from these types of operations. If the public is genuinely distasteful of it, we might not do it," he said. "I'm not saying we won't, but I'm not saying we will."
In addition to trying to ensure the safety of boats on the bay during the holiday weekend, Warren said, the operation was part of an effort to increase the public's awareness of the Coast Guard's role as a law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. He said the public might have been surprised to see weaponry that is now standard issue to all Homeland Security forces.
"I, as a U.S. citizen, am highly offended by that," said Jones, who is accustomed to Coast Guard boardings when he sails. "When a sheriff's deputy drives down the road or a CHP officer drives down the road and I see them, I'm aware of his job, and not because he's pulled me over and put a gun to my head.
"The Coast Guard's needs would be better served by an advertising campaign," he said, "rather than bullying people in their bedrooms at 10:30 at night."
Jones said he and his wife were sleeping when they were awakened by knocking on the side of the boat.
He went to the deck and was confronted by two armed officers asking if they could come aboard. Thinking something had happened in the harbor that the officers needed to talk to him about, Jones acquiesced.
"It seemed a little unreasonable at 10:30 at night," he said, "but it was the middle of the night and I was half asleep, so I said 'OK.' At this point, I looked out and saw six to eight officers (on the dock) and all appeared armed."
The officers boarded his boat and quickly spread out beyond the immediate deck without invitation, saying they were conducting a safety inspection.
"I can say with all certainly that what they did was not a safety inspection or in any way related to a safety inspection," he said. The officers demanded access to the bilge, saying they wanted to make sure the boat wasn't taking on water.
"This was highly suspect," Jones said. "If you're on board, you'd know if you were taking on water."
When Jones showed them the bilge, the officers repeatedly, and with increasing forcefulness, demanded to know if there were other accesses to the bilge. They also "demanded" the driver's licenses of everyone on board.
Increasingly upset by the nature of the search, Jones asked for the officers' authority and justification. One officer read to him from a federal code authorizing the search.
"It was either the Patriot Act or homeland security,"Jones said.
Warren said the officers would not have cited the Patriot Act because it affords the Coast Guard no additional authority.
Jones conceded he may have heard "homeland security" and registered "Patriot Act," but still feels the search was unwarranted and in a gray area of the law at best.
"I wouldn't question their professionalism, but I do question their motive and their authority," he said. "To me, it sounds like something that an ACLU lawyer would just tear apart."
Coast Guard officials say they are authorized by maritime law to board and search vessels on U.S. waters, including waters that lead to U.S. waters, to enforce federal laws.
Warren said the officers were attempting to ensure the safety and compliance of docked boats by checking for oily water in their bilges and that their sanitation devices were in locked position. Some searches were conducted at night in an effort to catch boats before they went onto the bay for the weekend.
The second boat owner who spoke to The Herald said his boat was searched after he challenged officers who were searching other boats, at 10:30 p.m. Sept. 2, and during the morning on following days. Told they were acting as Homeland Security officers, he asked what they were protecting the harbor from.
"Terrorists," he said he was told by the officers, who exhorted him to "remember the Cole," referring to the October 2000 attack by terrorists on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors.
"The only terrorists down here are you guys," he told them. "You're scaring the hell out of me with that machine gun."
While Warren was noncommittal about future searches, he said it is important for the public to know the Coast Guard's presence will be increased.
"The Coast Guard's focus on homeland security has increased our presence on the water and will continue to increase our presence simply because that's what Congress is wanting us to do right now," he said. "The concern at the congressional level about the security of ports is pretty high."
"Jones said he and his wife were sleeping when they were awakened by knocking on the side of the boat."
The hour suggests a safety check was the justification and that they were looking for something else. There is a difference between 6-8 pm, and after 10 pm.
An El Al security specialist said that the Transportion Department's airline security check procedure was not effective save as a system for annoying people.
Coast Guard searches like this one - late at night as opposed to 6 am - 8 pm - arouse hostility and resistance by the law-abiding, and so are detrimental to real security.
At 10:30 pm that excuse does not wash. It immediately invites disbelief, derision and hostility.
Well, at least two of us agree on this. Good grief, everything from the administration is compared to Nazi's. It appears this nation learned nothing from 911, including many around this place.
It is a federal regulation. Marinas get complaints from neighboring landowners about violations of it.
It's been legal since about 1792. Maybe earlier.
What can I say? You SAILORS are a different breed. If I had a dollar for every sailor plucked from the ocean by the USCG I'd be a rich man. See, some of us power-boaters know you can do everything right and still be in mortal danger and there's only one organization that will assist no matter what the conditions.
Gee, this sounds like a typical day for the Florida Marine Patrol. God love em.
That's also why it would not be done lightly or without a pretty good reason. There was something else going on. I don't believe that this dude's story is the whole story.
The story indicates a different but still familiar pattern - somone was using his official power to express personal issues.
I supect what may be happening is that the Homeland Security Department's newness has resulted in less effective oversight of problem people.
10:30 pm says a lot.
Thanks ... That's a Formula Fastech 382 ... twin 500HP EFI's. GPS says I hit 81.7 MPH in it last week. I went 152 miles and burned 180 gallons of gas .... You have a very Formula too You built it ? Wow ... very nice
Boy oh boy Tonk, this article just opened up a whole truckload of idiots.
Next they will want to disarm citizens and police officers.
Boy, I love it when stupid just shines right out in the open.
I'll bet you all the liberal beer drinkers and just out right drunks didn't think twice about doing as they were asked, an M16 and 50 Cal will do that to you, don't you know. Hell some of those low life's may even have thought to say yes sir.
Gpd bless our BRAVE troops serving here and overseas, and the people who slame them can go wallow in SH**, where they belong.
I also have a 30 foot Magic offshore for grocery getting. It does about 75 mph but doesn't have all the creature comforts that the Formula has. The Formula has two big beds air conditioning refrig flushing john shower flat screen etc. It an 80 MPH floating condo
While A$$ kissing certainly isn't required... I'm very surprised to see the level of hatred for the USCG that I've seen so far on this thread. It's discouraging.
There are few examples of any agency that does *more* with *less* and does it with uncommon professionalism, than the U.S. Coast Guard. The NYPD is a larger organization than the USCG, and they must patrol an area many thousands of times larger. Yet they seem to do a pretty damn fine job of it.
I agree. Typically, they don't board docked boats. At 10:30 at night, I think there is a very good possibility that something else is going on that's not in the story.
The Coast Guard has many legitimate reasons for inspecting fishing boats, including for firearms.
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