FL Boater's Rights Bill!

[Roosky01]

The necessity for probable cause for enforcement stops and eliminating the bullshit "Safety Checks" needs to be implemented across the Country, IMO. The 4th Amendment shouldn't go out the window just because you are on a boat.

Governor Ron DeSantis Announces New Initiative to Protect Floridians Right to Boat | Executive Office of the Governor

www.flgov.com

"Governor DeSantis also announced that the initiative will prohibit boat inspections without probable cause, which were previously conducted as safety compliance checks. To this end, the bill will direct FWC to work with tax collectors to proactively provide a “Florida Freedom Boater” decal at registration. This decal will indicate to law enforcement that the boater has taken the necessary steps to maintain proper safety requirements.
This strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring compliance with boating laws and reducing unnecessary disruptions for law-abiding boaters, making enforcement more practical and effective."

 

[Justsomeguy]

It is my opinion the 4th amendment is one of the most eroded. Im sure our LEO members will disagree. But what makes a boat and car any different? I mean, they literally find any reason to commence the stop. From there it isn't much harder to get in and search immediate area.

Scalia was only adamant about the 4th in the home. According to scalia every detail of the home is intimate and requires a warrant with an affidavit showing probable cause place and things to be searched. Cars, boats, etc... not so much. I disagree. I think it should all be the same. My vehicle and boat are an extension of my home and belongings and I have a reasonable expectation of privacy that I think society would find reasonable as per the Katz decision. There have been some subsequent decisions that try to reign in some of those vehicular searches.

I wonder if this has anything to do with his pastor friend that got taken in by that officer even though the guy doesn't drink. But he apparently failed the field tests.

 

[BoatCop]

Supreme Court Ruling:

4th Amendment - Vessel Searches​

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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Annotations

Vessel Searches.—Not only is the warrant requirement inapplicable to brief stops of vessels, but also none of the safeguards applicable to stops of automobiles on less than probable cause are necessary predicates to stops of vessels. In United States v. Villamonte-Marquez, the Court upheld a random stop and boarding of a vessel by customs agents, lacking any suspicion of wrongdoing, for purpose of inspecting documentation. The boarding was authorized by statute derived from an act of the First Congress, and hence had “an impressive historical pedigree” carrying with it a presumption of constitutionality. Moreover, “important factual differences between vessels located in waters offering ready access to the open sea and automobiles on principal thoroughfares in the border area” justify application of a less restrictive rule for vessel searches. The reason why random stops of vehicles have been held impermissible under the Fourth Amendment, the Court explained, is that stops at fixed checkpoints or roadblocks are both feasible and less subject to abuse of discretion by authorities. “But no reasonable claim can be made that permanent checkpoints would be practical on waters such as these where vessels can move in any direction at any time and need not follow established ‘avenues’ as automobiles must do.” Because there is a “substantial” governmental interest in enforcing documentation laws, “especially in waters where the need to deter or apprehend smugglers is great,” the Court found the “limited” but not “minimal” intrusion occasioned by boarding for documentation inspection to be reasonable. Dissenting Justice Brennan argued that the Court for the first time was approving “a completely random seizure and detention of persons and an entry onto private, noncommercial premises by police officers, without any limitations whatever on the officers’ discretion or any safeguards against abuse.”

 

[BoatCop]

The necessity for probable cause for enforcement stops and eliminating the bullshit "Safety Checks" needs to be implemented across the Country, IMO. The 4th Amendment shouldn't go out the window just because you are on a boat.

Governor Ron DeSantis Announces New Initiative to Protect Floridians Right to Boat | Executive Office of the Governor

www.flgov.com

"Governor DeSantis also announced that the initiative will prohibit boat inspections without probable cause, which were previously conducted as safety compliance checks. To this end, the bill will direct FWC to work with tax collectors to proactively provide a “Florida Freedom Boater” decal at registration. This decal will indicate to law enforcement that the boater has taken the necessary steps to maintain proper safety requirements.
This strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring compliance with boating laws and reducing unnecessary disruptions for law-abiding boaters, making enforcement more practical and effective."

The Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary have had a similar program for decades with the Auxiliary Vessel Safety Check Sticker (below). The policy was that any vessel displaying a current Safety Check Sticker would generally not be subject to the random/routine "Safety Check", absent an observed violation. In practice though, boaters felt that it gave them immunity from boating laws/regulations or even from just getting stopped. When we did stop someone for expired registration, wake violation, reckless operation, etc, they'd point to the decal and try to drive away. I can't tell you how many of those safety decals I stripped off of boats (as a Coast Guard Boarding Officer), because they had no lifejackets, no fire extinguishers, were drunk, etc. Just having the required equipment at the time you were inspected, doesn't mean that they have the required equipment at other times. Nearly all of the drug/illegal alien smuggling boats we stopped off of Southern California had valid, current Vessel Safety Check decals.