The various cop bureaucracies regularly board anything they like without
probable cause at any time and as often as they like in Charleston, SC, and
have been doing so way before 9-11 as far back as I can remember:

USCG boats full of young sailors with M-16's in hand....
SC Dept of Natural Resources game wardens dressed up like SWAT team
members in camo fatigues in camo aluminum boats to hide them for
the "surprise attack", endangering their lives and the lives of
every boater legally flying along who can't see them until they're
right on top of them....
Charleston City Police who have a fleet of boats manned by city cops
guarding no-wake zones from foreign intruders, dangers immense waves
caused by kids on jetskis weighing 200#, and families headed to the
beach.
Charleston County Police who do what the city does but in the
unincorporated parts of the county.
(same for every other little tax fiefdom bordering on the ICW)

It wasn't uncommon to be stopped and searched, in violation of the Fourth
Amendment, 2, 3 or more times on a Saturday to see if my fire extinguisher
pressure guage had changed or my bilge pump float switch had become
inoperative in the last couple of hours since my last illegal search and
fishing expedition. The fact that my unrequired flares expired several
YEARS from Saturday did not deter them from, once again, checking to see if
that date on the side had changed since my last boarding.

We board and inspect only small boats whos occupants cannot afford law
firms on retainer, here. Stopping some big lawyer's yacht whos uncle is a
State Senator probably wouldn't be a good idea, even if you can see the
bales of dope strapped to the deck of his Sport Fisherman. One must think
of ones job performance rating when one is trying to make cop sgt, you see.
Stopping three black guys in an 1959 runabout with an Evinrude Lark will
never get you fired for any reason. Sailing yachts aren't stopped, either.
Many of their owners have barbed hooks in the legislature, too.

Illegal search and seizure is alive and very well in South Carolina. Don't
forget your wallet full of IDs, boat registrations, insurance certification
that's not required and all those things in the manual for your
rowboat.....

Larry W4CSC


(Capt Lou) wrote in
:

Massachusetts State Police (known as the Environmental Police on the
water) claim they can board any vessel without probable cause because
they have been "deputized" as federal agents by U.S. Customs. Does
anyone know anything about this?

"Listen to the live broadcast of 'Nautical Talk Radio' with Captain
Lou every Sunday afternoon from 4 - 5 (Eastern Standard Time) on the
web at www.959watd.com or if you are in Boston or Cape Cod set your
radio dial to 95.9FM.