Police boat

>> Water, water everywhere and cops at every turn

By PHILIP PREVILLE

According to the Canadian Coast Guard, the number of Canadians who own a seaworthy vessel--from dorries to sailboats to motorboats to sea-doos--increases by about 10 per cent a year, making it one of the fastest-growing pastimes in the country. Golf is growing faster, of course, but while you rarely see cops on the links (not on duty, anyway), they're all over the water. Police forces are putting more officers on the water to keep up with the times.

The cops: Technically, all waterways fall under federal jurisdiction; you'd expect to see only Coast Guard and RCMP vessels in Lake St-Louis. But Ottawa is happy to share its waterway policing duties and their attendant costs. And they don't patrol any exclusive territory: around the island of Montreal, you could run into Mounties, SQ, or MUC police.



The boats: MUC police have seven boats in all, mostly in the 20-foot range made by Doral Corporation in Shawinigan. The SQ have four similar boats in the Montreal area (including the one pictured). The Mounties have only two boats--but they have a 25-foot Zodiac. They also have the aquatic equivalent of motorcycle cops: two Mounties patrol Montreal waters atop sea-doos. Aside from GPS transmitters to track their location, the boats have little in the way of specialized equipment or cool police gizmos.



The infractions: Though boaters love to complain about the reckless driving of others, tickets for reckless or impaired boating are rare. The SQ, for example, stopped 5,000 boats last year and handed out five tickets for recklessness. For the most part, boat cops spend their days writing up tickets for people whose boats lacked mandatory equipment--no oars, not enough life jackets, no bail bucket, that sort of thing. If you're missing one item, you'll be handed a $252 ticket. If you're missing three or more items, they'll tow you to shore and pull your vessel out of the water.



Your rights: Few and far between. If an officer wants to board your boat to check for the mandatory equipment, you can't refuse. And if the officer suspects you're hiding something he can call the 24-hour telewarrant line, where a judge is waiting to give him the due-process go-ahead. Best to hide your dime-bag and give the cop a pleasant tour, showing off your boat's conformity.

As for the tickets, in the past they weren't really tickets: the police wrote up a report and handed it to a prosecutor, who decided whether to press charges. This situation allowed boaters a last chance to plead for mercy and avoid paying a fine. Now, tickets on the water are the same as tickets on the road: pay up or else.

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