July 16, 2001
(WEST TRENTON, N.J.) – The 107 officers assigned to the New Jersey Marine police are now in their busy season, patrolling the state’s 125 miles of Atlantic coast, its largest lake and many miles more of bays and rivers while thousands of boaters enjoy the summer.
Trooper Jeff Andres, who works in the support unit at State Police Headquarters, said that many of their responsibilities are similar to those of land-based officers.
“I can’t think of any crime that happens on the land that doesn’t happen on the water,” Andres said. “The only thing that’s different is the means of transportation.”
The sea-going officers are responsible for enforcing New Jersey’s laws against operating a boat while intoxicated and the requirement that children under 12 must be wearing life jackets at all times when they are on board a moving boat unless they are in an enclosed cabin. Many boat-owners find out the hard way that the legal limit for intoxication on board a boat is the same as it is behind the wheel of a car -- .10 percent blood alcohol. The penalties for a first offense include a suspension of boating privileges and a three-month driver’s license suspension.
In many areas, the Marine Police have more responsibility than other troopers, Andres said. If a boat is on fire, they become firefighters, and if someone is sick or injured on the water, they must get them ashore. If a boat needs to be towed in, troopers will try to get a commercial operator to do the job, but if no one is available, then they become towtruck operators as well.
The Marine Services unit in West Trenton processes applications for boat safety certificates and develops safety courses as well as reviewing all proposed legislation in its area of responsibility and conducting school workshops on safety.
The Marine Police also enforce state fish and game regulations and keep an eye out for illegal dumping and other environmental crimes.
The troopers operate out of four main stations on Newark Bay, which is part of the Port of New York, Point Pleasant and Atlantic City on the Jersey Shore, and Bivalve, an old oyster-fishing port on Delaware Bay. There are also five substations, three on the shore, one on Lake Hopatcong in northern New Jersey and one in Burlington, which is upstream from Philadelphia and near the head of navigation on the Delaware River.
Fatalities average seven to 10 a year, Andres said. Last year, there were 17 because of two deadly collisions that took a total of seven lives. The major causes of marine fatalities are collisions and people falling overboard, with alcohol and excessive speed playing a part.
But Andres believes that New Jersey waters are becoming safer thanks to a 1996 law that requires everyone born after 1979 to take a safety course before they can operate a boat. All operators of personal watercraft like Jet Skis must take a course.
The Marine Police work closely with the Coast Guard and the two agencies have overlapping responsibilities, although Andres said that the troopers emphasize law enforcement while the Coast Guard emphasis is on search and rescue. A few local police departments along the shore also have boats and officers trained to use them. State troopers train with the Coast Guard in areas like water rescue.
While the Coast Guard’s area extends to the 200-mile limit of U.S. waters and farther out if a ship is missing or in trouble, the state police’s turf stops three miles from the shore.
Andres said that the number of troopers in the Marine Police does not vary seasonally, which means that in the summer the division must prioritize its work. In the winter, officers devote more energy to environmental law enforcement.