Marine Patrol in Alton Bay

[Chimi]

I went to dinner with some friends last night at Shibley's in Alton Bay. At about 7:45 (well before official sunset), a marine patrol "attack boat" came cruising into Alton Bay.

Immediately upon their arrival, it looked like they were seeking out targets for harassment. We watched several boats that were going headway speed just get stopped for no apparent reason. Again, it was before sunset, but most of the boats had their lights on. Most of the boats were just small bowriders that seemed to have families on board that were just trying to enjoy a quiet evening on the water. Perhaps all of the boats didn't have proper registration stickers (which we could not see), but I find that hard to believe. One boat came by with blue accent lights on the side of the boat, and blue underwater lights under the swim platform, and he got pinched too. I'd say that was the only reasonable stop that I saw. The marine patrol boat even hung out at a private dock on the east side of the bay, just waiting for someone else to harass. We thought they were going to hassle the owner of the property because they had a single white light on their boathouse. But apparently they were just stalking more prey.

They put on quite a show for the entire restaurant, with most people commenting how unreasonable this all seemed. I agree - why don't they spend more time pinching people that are violating laws and creating danger to others? For a state that relies on tourism, these overzealous tactics by marine patrol leave a bad taste in everyone's mouths. Who wants to get hammered on by a navy seal attack boat when they are just out for a quiet, headway speed cruise at sunset with their families? There were two cops on the boat, so that probably made it more intimidating for the families.

Maybe there is a reasonable explanation for all of this. If so, I would like to hear it.