Short Wave Sportfishing wrote in
:

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.

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.

Exactly right. And contrary to earlier posts, Florida does NOT have the
right to regulate registration of transient boats in any way it chooses.
Boats from other states are travelling in interstate commerce. Our
constitution does not let individual states inhibit or overly burden
interstate commerce. That's why they HAVE to have the two week "grace
period" and a 90 day period for use tax payments. After those periods,
it's considered that they aren't travelling any more, but are there to
stay, at least for the time being. But if you're just travelling through
for one day, Florida couldn't make you register even if it wanted to.

What this bad cop does, is assume that any unregistered boat is violating
the law and been there more than two weeks. I don't think that's probable
cause and in any other case would subject this bad cop to a civil rights
lawsuit. Somehow in the maritime world we're deemed to give up our civil
rights and can be borded anytime anywhere without cause. Still doesn't
give him the right to write bogus "warnings" or to detain people and
force them to listen to his inane lectures. If I was properly registered,
knowing I committed no violation, and on land (like the couple in the
article) I would simply get up and walk away. Let him arrest me. I'll own
the town.