A bill designed to make random searches of boats the same as Ohio law for random searches of vehicles has been introduced by State Representatives Rex Damschroder (R-Fremont) and Dennis Murray (D-Sandusky).
House Bill 594, introduced today, specifies that law enforcement personnel may only stop a vessel if they have reasonable suspicion that the vessel or vessel’s operator are in violation of marine law or otherwise engaged in criminal activity.
“Over the summer, there have been many complaints by people stopped just because they can be,” Damschroder stated. “HB 594 takes a common sense approach to this issue and eliminates these burdensome, intrusive, and all too common searches.” Instead, the bill only permits stops if officers have reasonable suspicion that the boat or operator is in violation of marine law or engaged in criminal activity.
“There is no reason that peaceful, law-abiding citizens enjoying Lake Erie should be subjected to random and arbitrary stops,” said Rep. Murray. “We wouldn't think to tolerate this on land because such practices are fraught with opportunities for abuse. Such practices directly undermine public confidence in law enforcement. Ultimately, the perception that enforcement is unfair also undermines the ability of officers to best do their jobs of protecting us by denying them our full confidence.”
HB 594 specifically states that law enforcement personnel may only stop a vessel with reasonable suspicion or if part of a scheduled checkpoint. Recently, the state of Michigan passed similar legislation that will become effective in November 2012.
1 comments:
Thank you State Rep's Damschroder and Murray! I have been boating on Lake Erie out of the Marblehead & Port Clinton areas since I was 15 years old. I think local boaters would agree that multiple law enforcement agencies on the water have been running roughshod (in recent years) rather than protecting our waters from illegal activity and unsafe boating practices. Cannot thank you enough for taking the initiative to introduce this legislation.
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