Puget Sound Jurisdictions

D

DuckDogTitus

New member
I'm confused about the legal jurisdictions in Puget. Usually if I call a city they refer me to coast guard but this weekend I saw the Tacoma PD out patrolling area 11 and writing tickets. Where does their jurisdiction end? It's kind of frustrating when you call a municipality and ask them legal questions that they can't answer and you later find them patrolling the same waters.


My questions historically were concerning duck hunting the salt. I'm always hesitant to discharge a firearm in a new area without being certain of legality...
 
The Everett PD is sitting at the launch a lot this year. They asked me for my "state parks safety inspection" I pointed to my USCG sticker. Hes says not enough??? I called bull shit and he stated he was coming aboard, I said not with out a warrent. He claimed he did not need one but he also did not step on my boat. And yes he needs one unless he has probable cause. This is just revenue chasing bull shit. we went round and round for a while until Susan came down to the boat after parking the truck and trailer. We ended up showing him the USCG paper work and that got him to go way. I don't know why the sticker was not good enough. I have never heard of a state park safety inspection. Do I have to get checked by every dam cop at every dam ramp I go to. I could not get him to tell me if the safety inspection was required or not. I don't think it is but he avoid the question over and over again. I told him to go up to south Everett and bust a crack house or something useful. I have no patience for this shit anymore.
 
I'm really really really glad to hear that. I lost my boaters license last year and couldn't remember who I took it with, so I took it again this year. but its not just a test anymore, now its a mandatory class as well. I think I have over 15hrs into it. With that said, I was very particular about making sure I was legal before I got on the water this year.

I had USCG check me, by coincidence at my first salt launch after I bought Hemingway. They gave me gold stars and recommended that I keep the signed USCG paperwork in my boat so I can just show that to anyone in the future and not go through the song and dance again.

then a couple weeks later the WDFW approached my boat while crabbing and got very in my face about what I was doing and whether I was legal. I was. I just felt they were extremely confrontational and I even told them I feel like I've been caught doing something wrong and didnt know it... they laughed. I didn't think it was funny.

then last weekend Tacoma PD is out their patrolling (with their blue lights flashing??) and cruising between 100+ boats along pt defiance. That's three weekends in less than 2 full months that I have personally encountered "enforcement" doing God knows what out in that ONE area. I've never seen it like this before.
 
I think that the marine law enforcement folks are trying to develop a traffic camera for on the water in the name of safety. Just kidding, but I wouldn't put it past them.

In my mind, its all about revenue and everything else is secondary.
 
redbaronace":29yi1aws said:
I think that the marine law enforcement folks are trying to develop a traffic camera for on the water in the name of safety.

In my mind, its all about revenue and everything else is secondary.
Click to expand...

my understanding is its already there. Last week I fished with an Iraq vet and he recognized the camera on the PD boat immediately and explained to me the distance at which they were able to identify my nose picking and middle finger.


I'm really not an anti-authority type individual at all, but I feel like I work so hard to abide by the countless confusing laws we have and when i'm approached as though I'm a criminal it really irks me.
 
We have seen more activity this year as well.

From the Tacoma Police Marine services website:

"The Marine Services Unit was created in January 2004 to establish a harbor patrol vessel to assist in port security, boating safety, and safeguarding of life and property throughout Tacoma’s nearly 46 miles of shoreline. This area encompasses Commencement Bay, Thea Foss waterway, the shores of Wapato Lake, and portions of the Puyallup River and Hylebos Creek. The Washington State Vashon ferry lane is also patrolled to assist in safe passage for the ferry and the recreational vessels near and around Point Defiance."
 
Aurelia":26nx48mt said:
We have seen more activity this year as well.

From the Tacoma Police Marine services website:

"The Marine Services Unit was created in January 2004 to establish a harbor patrol vessel to assist in port security, boating safety, and safeguarding of life and property throughout Tacoma’s nearly 46 miles of shoreline. This area encompasses Commencement Bay, Thea Foss waterway, the shores of Wapato Lake, and portions of the Puyallup River and Hylebos Creek. The Washington State Vashon ferry lane is also patrolled to assist in safe passage for the ferry and the recreational vessels near and around Point Defiance."
Click to expand...

I wonder what their boundary is. I've never seen them out there patrolling recreational fishingfolk before, maybe its just been a coincidence.
 
I am out on the water north of you folks 5 or 6 days a week. There is definitely more LE than I saw last year - federal, state, and local.

We aren't fishing, so I don't have an issue with that. Once down in Texas, a game warden came by our boat and asked, "How's the fishing?"

"I wouldn't know - we don't fish."

He asked, "Then why do you have a net onboard?"

"Because we travel with a cat. You are welcome to come aboard to see."

He smiled and waved good-bye.

As far as I know, the Coast Guard is the only enforcement that you cannot deny boarding, without probable cause. If you are playing by the rules, I don't see the advantage of being confrontational with any LE. I'm not saying give up your rights, simply not interested in giving any of them "probable cause."

You could easily be in an area with 3 or 4 jurisdictions, and just have the bad timing to find them all in a short time span.
 
I welcomed the gamie and the coast guard both onto my boat, but I'm so tired of it now that I think that's come to an end.

You spend 5 or 6 days a week on the water and don't fish? I think that's the most impressive part of all! :mrgreen:
 
Oregon may be different. Or, maybe living in the sticks makes things easier. The trouble others have had motivate me to stay away from them big places!

Got safety inspected twice. Once while launching a newly completed homebuilt vessel on the Columbia River ... and I was happy to have the local boat cop look things over. Very quick, very professional, and focused on the basics, PFDs, blower, throwable flotation, horn, paperwork, etc. Clatsop being a small county, I know most of the boat cops, but this one was new to me.

Second time was at a ramp on the Nehalem in Tillamook County, for my sea kayak! There were four kayaks, and it was again very quick, with PFD and whistle being the main items. This county marine officer was unknown to me, but, of course we had three or four buddies in common.

Both times issued a sticker, which avoids a repeat inspection for a year.
 
DuckDogTitus":34fizxj3 said:
I welcomed the gamie and the coast guard both onto my boat, but I'm so tired of it now that I think that's come to an end.

You spend 5 or 6 days a week on the water and don't fish? I think that's the most impressive part of all! :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

While we're in the San Juans, I am driving whale watch boats. Of course, even when we're cruising, we don't fish. Joan has fished with our friends Brent and Dixie, but I don't care much for seafood... more of a meat and potatoes kinda guy. Now, if cows would swim, I would reconsider my position. :wink:

We don't spend lots of time at our place in Texas, but we get boarded by the Coast Guard there about twice a year on average. I figure it's going to take at least a half hour when that happens. We welcome them aboard, let them do their safety check, and ask whatever questions they want (we live near the TX/MX border - they always ask about our range and speed), then get the "good as gold" slip, and we're on our way. No other LE has asked to board our boat.

It is my understanding that WDFW has received additional funding this year, so they are certainly out there more.
 
Personally, I'm glad they are on the water. Just having them out on the water gives the average guy a bump in 10 IQ points, and the somewhat stupid ones about 25 IQ points.......The really, really dumb ones end up off the water......LOL.....

I do not condone non-professional bad ass cop behavior though. It is uncalled for and should not be tolerated. Get out the video camera and start filming, write down the badge number, and report them to their boss. It is the only way it will have a chance of ending.
 
You know, Brats, it seems to me that we are straying away from the just be nice rule. Sure everybody has their own ideas about law enforcement and some resent authority of most any kind whether it be CG, cops, or the military. We all might get our feathers ruffled now and then but there are several brats who are or were law enforcement or military; including me. How about we slow down the snide insults and get back to boating.
 
colobear":wlsnz3fl said:
You know, Brats, it seems to me that we are straying away from the just be nice rule. Sure everybody has their own ideas about law enforcement and some resent authority of most any kind whether it be CG, cops, or the military. We all might get our feathers ruffled now and then but there are several brats who are or were law enforcement or military; including me. How about we slow down the snide insults and get back to boating.
Click to expand...

I agree. There isn't enough money in the Federal Budget that would get me to become a cop as the expectations are incredible high, real danger in everyday interactions with the crazy public, and I honestly wouldn't be very good at ticketing broken turn signal lights, license plate lights, and boaters that forgot something.

Like I said, I really do appreciate their presence on the water and on the road and I agree we should be talking about boats......and be nice about it.....LOL.....
 
Barry, I don't have a problem with LE and never with the coast guard. The CG has every right to board my boat. My problem is with the decision makers that are sending these LE officers to do jobs that IMHO they have no right to be doing. Nor do they have the funds to do and their time can be better spent enforcing the law IN their jurisdiction. When they run out of crack labs in Snohomish county and Everett they can spend their days harassing me at the dock for nothing, Until then NO.

Let me be clear I am not talking about fish and game. I FULLY support the game cops checking everyone to ensure they are falling the rules. But as a country of laws I want the LE to follow the same laws and not violate my rights. I have a right against the unwarranted search of my property. That included my home, my car and my boat. If they have probable cause then they can go get a warrant or ask me really nice. I was never told if I had to have the state park safety check ( which I cant find anything about on the net at all) or if its a voluntary. The LE would not answer that question at all. Just that he was going to do one.

As for some member being LE. I hope that they do their job better then the ones I have had to deal with and I would hope that they are just a upset about this as I am. When a see some one in my profession do the wrong thing I am the first one to point it out and call them on it. I expect the same of other.

In life in general there are too many officials using the excuse of SAFETY to harass and fleece the people and its got to come to a end. The government does not have a mandate to save me from me or even me from you. their job is to arrest people AFTER they break the law. I would climb down from my soap box now but the fall from this height my kill me.
 
Years ago, in south Puget Sound there was a large Coast Guard presence. There was a cutter stationed in Gig Harbor and one in Tacoma. They did all of the marine enforcement, safety checks, rescue etc, but not fisheries enforcement. Those boats were pulled out of the south sound and we were left with no LE coverage.
Then the counties started patrols in the salt. Tacoma PD also started marine patrols. I was glad to have them on the water.

During the last 10 years or so, I have been stopped by county, city of Tacoma, and WDFW many times. Doesn't bother me a bit. I have never run into an officer that was not courteous, and I felt like they were doing their job. I even got to know the TPD folks by name, and after the first check, they would often just stop by and chat. They would tell me where they had encountered pods of resident silvers. My own personal fish finders!

I haven't seen the TPD marine unit south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge for some time. I think this is because Pierce County Sheriff's Department had lost their patrol boat (it sank at the dock) a few years ago, and they just got the new replacement boat in service. It is located at The Narrows Marina.

Robbi
 
Back
Top