With more than 900 miles of navigable waterways – more than any parish in Louisiana – St. Tammany is a natural place for water recreation, particularly in summer months. But when you hop on your Jet Ski, sailboat or even just your fishing skiff, officials say the rules of safety still apply.
At the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office , Capt. Pat McLaney commands the Marine Enforcement unit within the Operations Division, overseeing a staff of 13 law enforcement professionals. Their job – and it’s a big one – is to patrol the waterways of the parish in search of safety violators, search for missing persons on the water and, most importantly, to keep people safe.
“We have six patrol boats in the waterways of St. Tammany, spread throughout the Parish,” McLaney said. “They are also responsible for search and rescue on waterways.”
Unlike the deputies who patrol the streets, Marine Enforcement deputies don’t work in the finite enforcement area of natural boundaries or even the yellow and white lines that denote the edges of traffic lanes. Their charge is much more diverse, as are their duties.
“They do safety inspections of vessels, enforce all ordinances, including DWI laws, and preparing for festivals that are on the water, such as the upcoming Wooden Boat Festival in Madisonville,” McLaney said.
Many who set out for a day afloat take with them an ice chest laden with adult beverages, but McLaney said boaters need to know, for both legal and safety reasons, that the same laws pertaining to driving while intoxicated on land also apply on the water.
“DWI enforcement is something we’re really trying to push,” McLaney said. “It holds the same penalties as on land.”
The lesson in the amphibious nature of drunk-driving laws expands beyond the abuse of alcohol while operating a watercraft, and the deputies under McLaney’s supervision are fully trained law enforcement professionals, not rent-a-cops who float.
“They are not strictly tied to Marine Operations,” McLaney said. “They operate as regular deputies, when not on the water. The only obvious difference is they drive trucks.”
Those are marked trucks, by the way, with lights and sirens, and drivers with full enforcement authority. So don’t make the mistake of thinking that because there’s a boat on a trailer in the back that the guy in the uniform is just as empowered to hold you accountable.
For the most part, Marine Patrol deputies do just that – patrol the waterways.
“The majority of day-to-day operations are on the Tchefuncte River, the Pearl River System, and the northshore of the Lake (Pontchartrain),” McLaney said. “Our coverage is pretty strong throughout the parish.”
Strong, indeed. Of course, too, the Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit can draw on the resources of other divisions within the Sheriff’s Office as well, when necessity arises.
“We put extra personnel out on the water during holiday times,” McLaney said.
And the crossing of organizational boundaries doesn’t just apply within the Sheriff’s Office, either. While the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries investigates accidents involving privately owned vessels and the U.S. Coast Guard tackles the investigation when commercial boats are involved, the STPSO is still there.
After a recent fatal accident on the Tchefuncte River, for example, the Sheriff’s Office coordinated most of the search and recovery efforts to find the victim, giving Wildlife and Fisheries personnel the time they needed to conduct their probe of the incident.
“We work closely and in conjunction with them,” McLaney said.
Not technically a part of the Marine Unit but still under McLaney’s command is the Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, a nine-member group of certified divers who come from other areas of the STPSO’s Operations Division.
“All members of the Dive Team are assigned to the Operations Division, including members from Marine Enforcement, Traffic and Narcotics,” McLaney said. “They are public safety and recovery divers. They are primarily a search and recovery team.”
The searching doesn’t always include efforts to find missing persons or, in worst cases, dead bodies. Divers also help recover evidence, including weapons and stolen vehicles that perpetrators have disposed of in the water.
The Marine Enforcement Unit has watercraft in varying shapes and sizes to fit almost anywhere on the parish’s waterways. Three 24-foot patrol boats, three 21-foot patrol boats, one dive boat/floating command center, various flatboats, a shallow-drought mud boat, and small inflatables for shallow, inland waterways. It’s a veritable armada.
And, again, McLaney said the Unit’s primary concern is safety. Boaters are required to have a personal floatation device (PFD) on board for each passenger, to carry flares and a fire extinguisher, to have a two-way communication device onboard and, of course, to be registered and lighted in compliance with state law and local ordinance. Keeping those items on-hand can be the simplest way to keep yourself safe on the water this summer, and McLaney stressed yet another important point.
“Always file a float plan, whether with a friend, the harbormaster, or both,” he said. In essence, let someone know where you’re going and when you plan to be back. If you do get in over your head out there, the faster help arrives the better your chances.
As much as the Marine Enforcement Unit would like to be idle, experience has taught them better. “We’re expecting a busy summer,” McLaney said. “Boating traffic never slowed down this year. We expect that to last into Labor Day.”