Neil Probst, The Associated Press
Montgomery, Ala. (AP) -- The Alabama Marine Police patrols about 50 bodies of water across the state, including huge rivers like the Alabama, as well as the Gulf of Mexico.
The catch: For all its responsibilities, the agency operates with just a few more patrol officers than the number of waterways under its charge.
“We do have a lot of territory to cover and miles and miles and miles of waterway to cover, and we don’t have the personnel to do that,” said Bill Garner, state Marine Police director.
The agency enforces vital boating rules, such as DUI laws; it is tasked with homeland security responsibilities and, in October, its officers will enforce the new Marine Sanitation Act, created to ensure that boaters and marinas keep human waste out of the state’s waterways.
Currently, 54 officers are in the field on patrol, Garner said. The force is authorized to have 65. Three of the officers are currently on active duty in the military.
“We would need probably three times the number of people we have today,” Garner said.
A call to the governor’s office about any possibility of increased funding was not returned. In almost any area of law enforcement, patrols are a vital way for officers to deter crime and save lives by their mere presence.
In 2002, two people died in waterway accidents that involved either drugs or alcohol, according to Marine Police statistics. Officials hope such deaths can be avoided as patrol officers continue to enforce new boating rules that became effective January 2001.
The Alabama Boating Safety Enhancement Act lowered the legal blood-alcohol level from .10 percent to .08 percent. In addition, the act raised the legal age to operate a motorized watercraft from 12 to 14.
Enforcement of DUI laws is just the tip of the iceberg of patrol officers’ duties, however.
After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, on Sept. 11, 2001, Marine Police were tasked with homeland security duties. That means increasing patrols and vigilance around bridges, hydroelectric dams, nuclear plants and water supply intakes.
Garner said the task is impossible.
“We don’t have enough people to provide around-the-clock (surveillance),” he said.
In fact, the Marine Police, a division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, also is short an officer on the Alabama River, said Lt. Erica Shipman, a spokesman.
Shipman said two officers are assigned to patrol between south Wilcox County and Wetumpka, but because of a recent departure there is only one on duty right now.
That stretch of river is at least 100 miles long. Marine Police is making up for the shortage by having a Coosa River officer patrol both on the Coosa and part-time on the Alabama.
Roger Moore put his boat in the Coosa River on Monday afternoon at Gold Star Park in Wetumpka. Besides his patrol area on the Coosa from Mitchell Dam, he now has responsibility for law enforcement south to the Robert F. Henry Lock in Lowndes County.
“We’re losing people to higher-paying jobs,” he said. “We definitely could use more help.”
Three of the Marine Police vacancies are in Moore’s district, an area that stretches from Wilcox County in the west to Chambers County on the Georgia line and down the Chattahoochee River to Houston County.
Garner said outfitting an officer isn’t easy. He said it costs about $100,000 to pay for a new boat, a vehicle to tow the craft, and the officer’s salary.
In addition to its enforcement of boating rules and random DUI checks and homeland security responsibilities, the police soon will be asked to enforce the Marine Sanitation Act.
Essentially, the legislation bans use of portable toilets on any motorized boat because of concerns that waste will be dumped overboard. Instead of portable toilets, boat owners must have functional marine sanitation devices that comply with Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Convictions for those who are not in compliance could result in fines ranging from $100 to $1,000, according to the legislation. Marinas will be liable, too.
“A marina cannot allow a boat with a holding tank to moor or tie up and stay the night unless the marina has a pump-out station,” Garner said.
The legislation further states that “all recreational vessels with marine sanitation devices will be inspected annually by Marine Police personnel.”
“No doubt about it, there’ll be stricter enforcement,” Garner said.
But even people impressed with the Marine Police’s plans are skeptical.
“I’m not sure if that’s an enforceable law,” said Montgomerian Glenn Trapp, who enjoys motor-boating on Lake Martin.
Trapp said the increase in the legal boating age is a good idea as well as the DUI limit change, but he wonders how the sanitation law can be enforced without more resources. He’s fine with the idea in theory, though.
“I would probably vote for anything that would promote cleaner lakes. You hate to see stuff go downhill,” Trapp said.