On Mar 8, 5:43�pm, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 8 Mar 2007 17:25:34 -0800, "Chuck Gould"

wrote:
People who bring boats to Florida from states where there is no
registration of boats or where it is considered "optional" are
informed about the Florida law, let off with a warning, and told they
have 2-weeks to finish up their visit to Florida *or* apply for a
registration.

There's the crux of the matter.

A warning implies that one has broken a law and the law enforcement
option is to issue a warning so that one doesn't (1) do it again or is
notified that a problem exists and needs correction.


Yes, indeed. I agree completely. The Florida State Law says that to
operate a boat on the waterways in Florida it must have a valid
registration in *some* state. (There is no need to get a FLA
registration unless operating more than 90 days at a time or more than
181 days per year).

People who operate unregistered boats in Florida have indeed broken a
Florida State Law, even if the operation of a boat without a
registration happens to be legal in whatever state they normally live
in. The two week grace period is for people who have been given a
warning ticket- but the offense occurs the first moment that an
unregistered boat is operated.

It's a simple as a speed limit, really. If I live in a state where the
speed limit is 70 and get hauled over for doing 65 mph in some state
where the limit is 55, the fact that where I come from the limit is 70
mph won't get too far off the ground in front of any judge in the
country.

People operating unregistered boats are in violation of Florida State
Law. The purpose of the warning is to call that fact to their
attention and alert them that they need to address the problem or get
out of state within two weeks.






What this guy is doing is judging intent ahead of time - if the
reports are as stated. *He can't do that - in fact, a case could be
made for profiling if he does this on a regular basis. *I'm surprised
that somebody hasn't done so.

It's a question of intent. *He has the right to stop a vessel and ask,
but if the owner presents documents that indicate it is owned by a
person whose state of residence doesn't require registration or
visible evidence of registration, he does not have the right to issue
a warning for a law that has not been broken.

A warning is an official law enforcement document - law enforcement
officers and adminsitrations track warnings issued. *In this case, to
issue a warning, he would have to be able to prove that the vessel has
been in Florida waters for longer than two weeks - which would be
impossible to prove. *He can't issue a warning for less than two weeks
because no law has been broken.

No, I think you misread the news article. The citable offense is
operating the unregistered boat in Florida *at all*, not operating it
there for more than two weeks. Once the warning has been issued, the
violator then has two weeks to correct the situation or get out of
state. If a warning has been issued and the same guy gets caught 2
weeks later, he won't get another warning- he'll get the full meal
deal.