It’s June 28 and the start of a beautiful weekend on Tapps, drawing hundreds to the lake’s shore and on the water. Amidst the sun and fun, Bonney Lake police are about to embark on patrol in the department’s marine services boat, taking special care to look for boat operators who could be under the influence of alcohol.
The hunt is part of Operation Dry Water, a national campaign funding overtime patrols to enforce boating under the influence laws. In Washington state, operating a boat under the influence of drugs or alcohol is a misdemeanor that can result in 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. On July 28, the crime will become a gross misdemeanor with enhanced penalties of up to 364 days in jail and $5,000 in fines.
The Coast Guard and National Association of State Boating Law Administrators initiative began in 2009 to reduce water fatalities involving alcohol. A 2012 Coast Guard study found alcohol factored into nearly a fifth of boating deaths.
“Almost all the major accidents we see on the water involve alcohol,” says Sgt. Rob Hoag, adding that summer 2013 had been relatively accident-free so far.
Hoag manned the first shift of the weekend emphasis alongside Officer Eric Alfano. Standing shoreside Friday morning shortly before launching the boat, Hoag said he expected the weekend to begin calmly.
“Ninety percent of what we do on the boat is education,” says Hoag. “We want to make sure boaters have all the proper life jackets and equipment, their boater education card, and if they don’t have them or didn’t know they needed them, we tell them how to get them as soon as possible.”
As the police boat sets out, Allan Yorke is just starting to fill up with people and only a few boats have ventured onto the water. Within minutes, Hoag slows near a row boat close to the launch and shouts to the three occupants.
“Hey guys, we’re just doing safety checks,” he said. “Do you all have life jackets?”
The three nod.
“Can you show me?”
All three scoop their jackets from the boat bottom and hold them up.
“Alright, looks good,” Hoag says.
Before they leave, a boy in the boat asks how fast the police boat goes.
“About 55,” Hoag says.
“Yeah, more like 165,” Alfano jokes, and the boat takes off west on the lake.
After some more time on the water, Hoag takes a break from behind the wheel to demonstrate the modified marine field sobriety tests, validated by a Southern California Research Institute study accepted and published in November 2010. The roadside sobriety tests standardized in the early 1980s have shown, in studies, a high success rate of predicting inebriation when their results are taken in combination. However, several of those tests require the taker to stand — problematic on a rocking and swaying boat. Previously, police arresting a suspected BUI driver willing to submit to the voluntary tests would have to take him ashore and let his “sea legs” wear off before going through the roadside tests.
Only recently were police trained in a new battery of sitting tests. The horizontal gaze nystagmus — requiring the taker to follow an object with their eyes — and the finger-to-nose test remain the same.
“So this is the palm pat,” Hoag says, holding his hands together in front of his body and alternately clapping his palm and the back of one hand to the palm of his other. “Here, we’re looking to see if the fingers of both hands remain straight forward, or if the test taker starts clapping their hand diagonally as they do it more and more.
“And then this is the hand coordination test. With this one, we ask the person taking the test taker to put one fist against their chest, elbows up, and then their other fist directly in front of it. We ask them to ‘walk’ their fists out one, two, three, four, stop, clap their hands, bring their fists back to the position they were in, and then one, two three, four, back to the chest. It’s kind of the sitting equivalent of the walk-and-turn.”
Soon, the police boat stops a motor boat towing a wakeboarder after spotting the driver carrying the required flag himself. It’s not a serious offense, but it warrants a reminder to let a passenger hold the flag, and an opportunity for a safety inspection.
The atmosphere of the stop is friendly. The officers go through the checklist of safety items: flag, life jackets, fire extinguisher. While they run the boat’s registration through the computer, they chat with a passenger about his former naval career.
“Are you all right back there?” Alfano shouts back to the wakeboarder, still floating in the water.
“Super,” she shouts back.
During the check, Alfano finds the boat’s fire extinguisher is uncharged and reminds the driver to replace it as soon as possible. The driver is also found to be without his boater education card, and right on the 50-year age limit requiring it. This is worth a ticket, but they reassure the man it will be dismissed if he takes the online safety course and presents proof to the court within 60 days. Hoag hands the man a pamphlet with information about obtaining the card and has the man turn the wheel over to an older passenger, before returning to patrol.
Not all of the campaign is punitive. Police were also on the lookout for children wearing properly fitted life jackets. Before the marine services boat sets out, Officer Todd Green dropped off a box of coupons for free ice cream.
“We have thousands of these,” he says. “So you don’t need to be stingy.”
About two hours into the shift, the officers spots a boat full of young children decked out in the proper safety gear. While Hoag goes through a safety inspection, Alfano writes each of the children their “ticket” for ice cream.
By the time the officers head to back to the boat launch for a quick break, Allan Yorke is already packed. They anticipate more boaters on the lake as the weekend progresses; hopefully safe boaters, but more people present potential for possible BUI cases.
One driver comments on the expected busy weekend during his safety inspection: “I hope you guys are able to stop some of the guys who drink out here. They’re the ones who cause real problems on the lake.”
