FOCUS: BORDER SECURITY
U.S. Border Patrol increases scrutiny of Niagara River, irritating some boaters
By Lou Michel NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 08/02/08 9:36 AM
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- U. S. Border Patrol agents work aboard the Marine Interdiction Unit in the Lower Niagara River near Youngstown. Ten boats have been added to waterway security efforts, and authorities plan to add three more.
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Pleasure boating on local waterways is becoming a little less pleasurable as boaters find themselves paying a higher price for not only fuel, but homeland security.
Efforts by the federal government to shore up the northern border with more maritime patrols, boaters say, have brought them under closer and more frequent scrutiny.
Boaters generally aren’t against the wave of increased security, but some are frustrated by excessive policing from multiple law enforcement agencies that sometimes stop the same recreational craft two or three times in the same day.
It could be the U.S. Border Patrol searching for a possible terrorist or checking on citizenship. Or it might be a deputy from Erie or Niagara counties conducting a vessel safety inspection.
“It’s really like going through airport screening. With increased security comes increased inconvenience, and we try to do our best to balance it,” said Chief Scott R. Patronik, who oversees the Erie County Sheriff’s Office marine division.
Catching the attention of recreational boaters are 10 new boats that have started patrolling local waters in the past few years.
The crafts, which are operated by a variety of local agencies and can cost as much as $250,000, are easily recognized by the hardened foam collars wrapping their perimeters for stability in rough water.
One boat can gulp 36 gallons of gasoline or more in an hour, depending on its size, the number of engines and how fast it’s moving. Pleasure boaters paying $4.50 or more a gallon at local marinas are well aware of the public expense.
Authorities say the fuel used by the boats is often exempt from taxes and purchased in bulk at cheaper prices. Yet the costs quickly add up into the thousands of dollars when several operate at the same time, shift after shift.
Manufactured by SAFE Boats International in the State of Washington, these new boats have expanded the region’s flotilla of police boats to about 30, but authorities say even more are needed.
That’s because the different law enforcement agencies are charged with watching over a vast area of lakes Erie and Ontario, plus the Upper and Lower Niagara River, the Erie Canal and other local waterways.
Even more significant, authorities point out, is that Buffalo Niagara is on an international maritime border that in warmer months is filled with people who love to be out on the water.
“There’s recreational boating activity on this border, and a threat could mingle in with it,” said Border Patrol Agent A. J. Price.
Making the region tempting to terrorists — aside from Canada’s comparatively lax immigration rules — is the large number of potential targets, including the New York State Hydropower Project and shoreline factories.
In fact, in recent years, the increased patrols have led to the apprehension of a number of people from countries that are on the federal government’s terrorism watch list, such as Pakistan.
So with all of these factors, boaters say they are finding themselves under closer scrutiny. But if it’s any consolation, other maritime regions also have experienced greater attention from law enforcement.
The Toronto Police Service, for instance, has 20 vessels and a staff of 52 maritime officers who patrol around the clock.
In Miami, the federal government has a well-established presence in the water, with eight stations for Customs & Border Protection boats and helicopters.
And Price, of the Border Patrol, says that this is not the first time Buffalo Niagara, because of its location, has become a priority of law enforcement.
When alcohol flowed across the international border during Prohibition, he said, law enforcement agencies maintained about 200 boats to thwart smugglers.
“What’s a more serious threat, alcohol or terrorism?” Price asked. “We probably should have more boats.”
More, in fact, are on the way.
The federal government plans to increase its fleet by at least three more SAFE Boats soon, according to border officials.
There is even the prospect of more scrutiny for local boaters. Mayor Byron W. Brown is volunteering Buffalo for an anti-terror initiative that Homeland Security officials are considering that would recruit volunteer private boaters to enhance surveillance on the water.
Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton are urging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to take Brown up on his offer and partner with the city in launching the program.
Civilian boaters and people who fish off the local piers, while annoyed that they have come under closer scrutiny by patrols that sometimes do not appear coordinated for efficiency, suggest that the different agencies with boats — there are at least a dozen — improve communications among themselves.
Gene Busch, a longtime Niagara County boater, said he watched in amazement recently as three different agencies stopped the same boat.
“I saw a Niagara County Sheriff’s boat stop a pleasure craft with two guys and three girls as they were leaving Newfane Town Marina. Then when they got to the breakwall, a sheriff’s auxiliary boat stopped them. Later out on Lake Ontario, a Coast Guard boat stopped them,” Busch said. “It was ridiculous.”
Law enforcement activities for boaters, he added, are not limited to the waterways.
“After running the gauntlet, the crowning glory is when you pull your boat onto the trailer and have the State Police or sheriff’s deputies checking for trailer registration and inspection of it.”
Sgt. Ron Steen, who heads the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Marine Division, says boater safety is the top priority of his officers “and that if you checked the records, you’d see that inspections are way ahead of the number of tickets written.”
Boating stops, he and State Police add, are made only when it appears a law has been broken.
As for the complaint of multiple stops by different agencies, authorities say they realize it is annoying.
“When a boater tells us they’ve been checked by another law enforcement agency, we’ll put our boat in neutral and check with the other agency. If that’s the case, we won’t repeat the safety check,” said Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard.
One of the main areas of complaint is Gateway Park, where the waters of the Upper Niagara River meet the Erie Canal along the borders of the cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda in Erie and Niagara counties.
With the different jurisdictions, according to boaters, it is not unusual to see marine units from several different police agencies.
“It’s like a traffic jam. You have the State Police, the [state Department of Environmental Conservation] and Erie and Niagara sheriff’s deputies, and there’s also the Border Patrol and Homeland Security,” said John Dzikoski, a boater from Wheatfield. “They hang out here to pull boaters over.”
He says it is overkill and that the different agencies should expand their patrols rather than concentrate on one particular area.
Police say Gateway Park provides a natural meeting place for different maritime units that might not normally come in contact with one another and that officers share information to assist them in conducting better patrols.
Authorities also say they recognize the fact that it is an expensive proposition to fuel patrol boats.
“We have a log on our SAFE Boat, and if deputies use an excessive amount of fuel, they have to justify it,” said Sgt. Steen of Niagara County.
During a patrol last week along the Upper Niagara River in a 33-foot SAFE Boat powered by three 225-horsepower engines, federal Customs & Border Protection agents said they do not wander the waterways aimlessly.
Their patrols are “intelligence- driven,” based on information from law enforcement officers on both sides of the international border.
“We coordinate our patrols,” said Border Patrol Agent Price.
And though there are complaints of too many agencies policing the waterways, there are other boaters who say the increased presence is a welcome sight.
“There’s nothing more dangerous than water,” said Vincent Lucci, an Orchard Park resident who has cruised the region’s waters for more than 30 years. “There’s a lot of reckless people out.”
