Posted on 12/17/2004 9:28:13 AM PST by wardaddy
Friday, December 17, 2004
Racheting up its firepower, the sheriff's office is getting a 30-foot boat with mounted machine guns for homeland-security patrols at the Port of Palm Beach and offshore.
Mounted machine guns are a first for the sheriff's office, although sub-machine guns are assigned to some deputies in specialized units.
The $163,735 cost of the boat and equipment is being paid for by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is helping to finance security increases at several Florida ports.
(Excerpt) Read more at palmbeachpost.com ...
How many Marine Patrol types have been killed nationwide by rowdy civilians at boardings over the years....could ask the same about the Coasties too.
I guess something cataclysmic could happen, but this reminds me of the Arkansas town (?) that bought the APC and mounted 50s on it.
Too much TV, but I want one too for "patrolling" the Cumberland.
How many freepers are wanting one of these boats for christmas now?
All I can see is the local Sheriff's browsing through a magazine and seeing a picture of this thing.
Sheriff #1:"Cool! I want one of these"
Sheriff #2: "Let't put in a req, just for fun"
A few weeks later the approved req is sent to the purchasing group and the order is made!
Any new 30 foot boat without sails for 160K is probably a dog.
Rambo Fife.
I don't know about that. Those new hard bottom Zodiacs with big multimotors and all the high tech stuff could easily run that.
A 30 foot Powerplay go-fast brand new with the best power goes for near that.
It could make sailfishing or whale watching more exciting.
Some cops would take tac-nukes if they could have them.
You never know when you might need tactical nukes when boarding local fishing boats. Some of those boys can be downright ornery and one might be a terrorist or something.
And the militarization of law enforcement continuees apace.
If the cops want to be the army then I say we subject them to the UCMJ.
Remember one thing, here this is on the Southeast coast, one of the largest areas in the country for drug running. Here, a lot happens on the water.....
i really would like to know how many water cops from local marine patrol to the red mustache have actually been wounded by folks they were boarding in non-military theater?
we have some coasties on this forum.
i lived in MyAmUh for years and worked the Carib basin and never heard of such.
I did see (on TV) coasties unload on the focastle of an old weed freighter that would not stop.
I was at Key West in the 1980s, when a Marine Patrol vessel became notorious for harrassing boaters. Real a-holes, vicious.
It gave me a certain amount of pleasure later to see that open "cigarette" type boat (confiscated, I'm sure) sunk at the dock. Somebody put a water hose into and let it run, and I guess it beat the bilge pump.
I'm disturbed anytime I see "police" getting belt-fed machine guns. If we need that level of defense, it should be Navy, Coast Guard, or National Guard TROOPS, not POLICE.
see post 13....I have a lot of experience in boardings...in that region.
i owned 3 freighters for 8 years that were based in the area. 88-96
i never heard of a shootout in a dope stop on the water with the Coasties or USN or local...never.
cops who get our toys ping...bwaaa!
damn yer fast.....ESP....."humming night gallery theme"
lol...too funny.
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