Quote:
Originally Posted by NightWing
You have raised valid points. However, past practice was that the stop stood on its own. The MV record was not to be used to influence the outcome of the stop. Plus, as I previously pointed out, it would be a difficult task for the dispatcher to keep up with and would add to the time of the stop.
Can not checking criminal history allow some bad guys to slip through? No doubt, but the primary purpose of the MP is to enforce boating laws. They do not have the manpower or facilities to cover all possible forms of law enforcement. Should an arrest occur due to BWI, the criminal record check would be obtained once the person was in a secure facility.
Remember that prior to this year, the MP was unarmed, which would pose an extreme risk to the officer if he or she was in an isolated area, out of radio range and came across a boater who had active warrants for violent crime. Attempting to arrest that person could prove deadly.
Yes, having complete information about the boater would have some advantages, but that info is not required to do the task at hand.
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Asking for a records check to see if the person is a valid boat operator wouldn't take a lot of time at all. Of course, not every operator that gets pulled over will go through this check, but if need be, MP has the resources to perform this check. To my knowledge, there are by far more day shift officer's throughout the state than there are night shift officer's, so i'm sure that running a quick check on someone wouldn't prove to be inconvenient if the officer is inclined to do so.
Yes, the primary purpose of the MP is to enforce boating laws, but they are also entrusted to enforce state criminal law as well. They are police officers, so they have the rightful authority to enforce any criminal violations along with any boating violations.
I agree that prior to this year, attempting to arrest someone with a violent felony warrant would definitely be a dangerous task, but not everyone that is pulled over gets ran through a criminal history check. As with on the road, if an officer gets any type of inclination that something "isn't right", they are likely to run a criminal history check...same thing on the water, especially now that the entire division is armed.
Nightwing, thanks for your input on this topic. I think that a lot of people don't really understand the operations of the MP aside from enforcing safe passage violations and making sure boats have required safety equipment, so us talking about it here will hopefully give them some insight.