Posted on 09/22/2005 2:42:37 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Two of the Moss Landing Harbor residents who were the subjects of random boat searches during Labor Day Weekend say their experiences were closer to armed invasions than the friendly "safety inspections" characterized by U.S. Coast Guard officials.
Both residents said search crews entered the harbor in inflatable boats with machine guns mounted on their bows. Then, carrying M-16 rifles, they approached residents and boarded and searched their boats in the name of safety and "homeland security."
One resident, who asked not to be identified for fear or retribution, said his experience was "very intimidating, very frightening."
"To me it reeks of Nazi Germany and the death squads in Argentina," he said. "I don't want my name on their list."
Scott Jones, a live-aboard resident who was searched, said there has been talk in the harbor about contacting the American Civil Liberties Union, but he first wants to hear further from the Coast Guard about its future intentions.
Lt. Mark Warren of the Monterey Coast Guard Station said he has heard mostly positive response to the operation, but may rethink future actions given current criticisms.
"We take lessons and learn from these types of operations. If the public is genuinely distasteful of it, we might not do it," he said. "I'm not saying we won't, but I'm not saying we will."
In addition to trying to ensure the safety of boats on the bay during the holiday weekend, Warren said, the operation was part of an effort to increase the public's awareness of the Coast Guard's role as a law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. He said the public might have been surprised to see weaponry that is now standard issue to all Homeland Security forces.
"I, as a U.S. citizen, am highly offended by that," said Jones, who is accustomed to Coast Guard boardings when he sails. "When a sheriff's deputy drives down the road or a CHP officer drives down the road and I see them, I'm aware of his job, and not because he's pulled me over and put a gun to my head.
"The Coast Guard's needs would be better served by an advertising campaign," he said, "rather than bullying people in their bedrooms at 10:30 at night."
Jones said he and his wife were sleeping when they were awakened by knocking on the side of the boat.
He went to the deck and was confronted by two armed officers asking if they could come aboard. Thinking something had happened in the harbor that the officers needed to talk to him about, Jones acquiesced.
"It seemed a little unreasonable at 10:30 at night," he said, "but it was the middle of the night and I was half asleep, so I said 'OK.' At this point, I looked out and saw six to eight officers (on the dock) and all appeared armed."
The officers boarded his boat and quickly spread out beyond the immediate deck without invitation, saying they were conducting a safety inspection.
"I can say with all certainly that what they did was not a safety inspection or in any way related to a safety inspection," he said. The officers demanded access to the bilge, saying they wanted to make sure the boat wasn't taking on water.
"This was highly suspect," Jones said. "If you're on board, you'd know if you were taking on water."
When Jones showed them the bilge, the officers repeatedly, and with increasing forcefulness, demanded to know if there were other accesses to the bilge. They also "demanded" the driver's licenses of everyone on board.
Increasingly upset by the nature of the search, Jones asked for the officers' authority and justification. One officer read to him from a federal code authorizing the search.
"It was either the Patriot Act or homeland security,"Jones said.
Warren said the officers would not have cited the Patriot Act because it affords the Coast Guard no additional authority.
Jones conceded he may have heard "homeland security" and registered "Patriot Act," but still feels the search was unwarranted and in a gray area of the law at best.
"I wouldn't question their professionalism, but I do question their motive and their authority," he said. "To me, it sounds like something that an ACLU lawyer would just tear apart."
Coast Guard officials say they are authorized by maritime law to board and search vessels on U.S. waters, including waters that lead to U.S. waters, to enforce federal laws.
Warren said the officers were attempting to ensure the safety and compliance of docked boats by checking for oily water in their bilges and that their sanitation devices were in locked position. Some searches were conducted at night in an effort to catch boats before they went onto the bay for the weekend.
The second boat owner who spoke to The Herald said his boat was searched after he challenged officers who were searching other boats, at 10:30 p.m. Sept. 2, and during the morning on following days. Told they were acting as Homeland Security officers, he asked what they were protecting the harbor from.
"Terrorists," he said he was told by the officers, who exhorted him to "remember the Cole," referring to the October 2000 attack by terrorists on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors.
"The only terrorists down here are you guys," he told them. "You're scaring the hell out of me with that machine gun."
While Warren was noncommittal about future searches, he said it is important for the public to know the Coast Guard's presence will be increased.
"The Coast Guard's focus on homeland security has increased our presence on the water and will continue to increase our presence simply because that's what Congress is wanting us to do right now," he said. "The concern at the congressional level about the security of ports is pretty high."
Should they be treated with respect? Sure. Do you think the Coast Guard should be able to enforce that respect at the point of a gun? No way.
The Coast Guard is here to serve the citizenry, not the other way round. If they are the sorts of folks who can't tolerate free people exercising their right to speak freely, then they are unfit, by definition, for the job they have been assigned, and they neither deserve to wear the uniform nor respect from folks like me.
BTW, I would hardly call a safety inspection done respectfully as revenge, would you?
You offered that as a possible rationale for their actions, not me. Which leads me to suspect that you understand the possibility for abusing a routine "safety inspection" quite well.
You just wish you were in NO's kicking in doors, seizing guns and pissing on the Constitution.
I wish I knew the facts of the entire circumstances. I do not believe they are presented in this article.
and you think they don't? Is that right?
Where have you been? They are legal now! It is a brave new world.
Even when they cant even read the numbers on a house, and go in the wrong house killing people?
Boy Howdy!!!
And the thing most folks don't understand is that virtually anyone has the right (but unfortunately many times not the knowlege or skill) to operate a vessel on the water.
Case in point, I navigated a 50' vessel thru "Deception Pass" in Puget Sound earlier this year.
Now that's a scary thought....
8^)
Was Jones an 80 years old guy in a wheelchair or was he dressed up as a granmar? Otherwise why would his vessel be searched?
Yeah the jackboots don't like it when their boots aren't properly licked. BTW what do they taste like. You seem to like them.
I'm sorry - it appears you've misdirected a post to me that was intended for someone else, since I didn't say that.
I don't think the guns were drawn. The CG regulations require boarding parties to carry weapons. Try enforcing the law without a gun. I wish guns weren't necessary but I believe they are.
The Coast Guard is here to serve the citizenry, not the other way round.
The Coast Guard is here to enforce the law and to protect lives and property. They are not here to be servants of the citizenry.
yeah, just automatically believe that it all went down just as this guy said.
Yeesh.
Sorry. It was in your post. I thought you said it. Nevermind then.
Gee, maybe we should all refrain from drinking, especially sailors. On holidays. Yeah, that's the root cause problem here. Maybe we should not be smart-alecs to our masters, er, I mean public servants. WHATEVER !
Yes, I appreciate law enforcement personnel. Those LE officers who do their job well earn my respect. I'll admit it.
You don't like police officers?
Idiotic. THEY said it was a safety inspection! Is it OK for the local police to barge into your home and search it if they say they are there to check the fire safety code. NO!
If they are looking for drug dealers they should say they are looking for drug dealers at boarding time. Is that even legal? I doubt it.
I believe Alex proposed an elected President for life, not a Monarch.
Guns drawn or not, "being a smart ass" is not a valid reason for the government to invade the property of its citizens.
The Coast Guard is here to enforce the law and to protect lives and property. They are not here to be servants of the citizenry.
Which they have been empowered to do by you and me - they are not popes or angels, and their power does not originate from God Almighty, but rather from We, The People. And they are only empowered to enforce the law and protect lives and property within the parameters and boundaries that We, The People have set for them. They are most definitely here to serve the citizenry, in the same manner as any other public servant. If they don't care for that thought, then they are again unfit for duty and deserve no respect from the citizenry on whose behalf they toil.
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