”We’ve stopped training for hook-and-climb until somebody demonstrates to me that there is a need for us to do it, or that the capability to do it [does not reside] in other places in the government,” he [Adminal Papp] said. “SEALS, for instance, I know SEALS are capable of doing it. … Do we need [...]
On February 4, 2011, US Border Patrol agents arrested two male Mexican nationals on California’s Imperial Beach after the two used self-propelled underwater devices to illegally enter the United States by sea. At about 8:45 p.m., the crew of a Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine aircraft spotted two suspicious subjects in [...]
Tokyo’s Institute of Cetacean Research is reporting one of their Japanese flagged Antarctic whale research vessels, the Yushin Maru No. 3, was attacked by two vessels, the Bob Barker and the Gojira, operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The report, which can be read below states the activists deployed at least 10 propeller foulers [...]
The Precision Intervention Technique, or PIT maneuver, is a driving technique designed to stop a fleeing motorist safely and quickly by hitting the fleeing car at a specific point on the vehicle, which throws the car into a spin and brings it to a stop. When executed by a trained officer at slow speeds on [...]
Representative Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a bill this week to move the US Coast Guard from the Department of Homeland Security to the Department of Defense. The bill won’t pass, and may never make it to the floor, but the idea of moving under the DOD has some worried how the Posse Comitatus Act might [...]
With artist John Sheppard making light of the lack of ballistic protection on some government small boats, we thought it might be time to offer our solution. You’re on a small boat chasing a go fast off the coast of Nicaragua when one of the suspects decides prison isn’t in his future and pulls a [...]
One of the better publications by any USCG public affairs office is now in its second issue. The Winter 2010 Deployable Operations Group Sentinel covers a lot of ground, and includes articles on the death and memorial service of PO3 Lin and some very good shots of a ferry takedown exercise in NYC. Required reading.
San Diego’s Examiner is reporting the city of San Fernando has been forced to settle with a USCG Reserve Boarding Officer after he filed a civil lawsuit for battery, false arrest, and civil rights violations. The suit was brought after San Fernando Police Officer Marshall Mack stopped Diaz in his vehicle to determine the status [...]
Armed on the water for nearly a decade, I know an unstable and constantly moving boat is tough to shoot from with any accuracy, even at close distances. I’m also aware of men out there who make it look almost too easy, firing rounds with precision into small moving targets hundreds of yards away. Fredrik [...]
On January 5, 2010 the Samho Jewelry, an 11,500 ton chemical tanker, was hijacked and her twenty-one man crew held hostage by a group of Somali based pirates armed with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades 800 miles from shore in the Arabian Sea. On January 21, 2010 at 9:58 am small boats carrying South [...]
Every MLEO considering self defense at one time asks if a boat moving to ram their own can legally be considered a deadly weapon. Here’s your answer from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1985 Luis Gustavo Gualdado, Domingo Fernandez, and Francisco Morales, were attempting to smuggle a large quantity if cocaine into Miami, [...]
Forty-nine out of fifty states had snow on the ground this week and waterways are frozen along the east coast from Chesapeake Bay north. It’s not an ideal climate for those of us who work outdoors and on the water. First trip on a boat in below freezing air temperatures, made worse by high winds [...]
Portions of this article from Smugglers of Spirits, Harold Waters This post recounts the violent events that lead to the shooting deaths of four members of the U.S. Coast Guard during a law enforcement action in 1927. Despite occurring decades ago, this incident provides many lessons for those now keeping law and order at sea [...]
Sections from William & Mary Law Review, Vol 34, Issue 3, Shelton At first glance, the full extent of the Coast Guard’s authority to stop and board vessels on any federal waterway at any time for any reason is surprising. This surprise is heightened by the realization that this authority is unique to the Coast [...]
Sections from William & Mary Law Review, Vol 34, Issue 3, Shelton The development of the U.S. Coast Guard’s law enforcement power and the focus of that power have evolved, like the development of many government agencies, in response to perceived or actual crises. From the founding of the Coast Guard as a tool to [...]
NBC San Diego – Almost one year ago, a terrible accident at the Parade of Lights on Mission Bay took the life of 8-year-old Anthony Cole DeWeese. Organizers dedicated this year’s parade to DeWeese, who was killed December 20, 2009, when a coast guard boat crashed into his vessel. This year, the Coast Guard put [...]
Bangkok Post – One Chinese fisherman died and two others were missing after their trawler collided with a South Korean coastguard ship Saturday and capsized, officials and reports said. Four coastguard officers were also injured as they tried to arrest the crew of the Chinese boat for illegal fishing off South Korea’s Eocheong island in [...]
Sign On SD – The Coast Guard and San Diego Unified Port District were sued in federal court to enforce a 100-yard security zone requirement for cruise ships that dock at San Diego’s waterfront. The Navy Broadway Complex Coalition, which has been fighting the construction of a newly completed cruise ship terminal on Broadway Pier, [...]
