Law Enforcement Mission News

A 21-foot all-aluminum patrol/rescue boat was recently delivered to the Southampton, N.Y. Bay Constables for its law enforcement mission, the builder Silver Ships, Inc. announced. The Freedom 21 center console boat was designed and engineered for one-man operation, which, according to Silver Ships, is a sought-after feature in today’s climate of staffing reductions by public safety agencies. The boat is tasked with patrol, rescue and enforcement of various environmental, conservation…

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Diligence is scheduled to return to their homeport in Wilmington Saturday following a 45-day patrol in the Caribbean Sea. During their patrol, the Diligence crew conducted search and rescue operations off the west coast of Cuba and conducted drug interdiction operations in the vicinity of Columbia and Panama. In anticipation of Aviation Standardization, a three-day assessment of the Diligence crew's flight operations capabilities scheduled for early October, the crew practiced flight operations their first evening underway. An MH-65C Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, met the cutter crew to conduct deck landings, helicopter in flight refueling (HIFR) and vertical replenishment (VERTREP) exercises.

Former USCG Admiral Thad Allen is a transformational leader in the history of the service, a rock through thick and thin. Today he talks about resource allocation, risk management and homeland security. As part of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Justice and Homeland Security business group, Executive Vice President and former U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen leads the development of thought leadership and client engagements regarding the future direction of law enforcement and homeland security. The Coast Guard is under pressure to either pare its mission mix or downscale what it does.

The U.S. Coast Guard released Friday the Final Action Memorandum of an administrative investigation into the death of Senior Chief Terrell Horne, III during a law enforcement mission on December 2, 2012. Senior Chief Horne was killed when the Coast Guard Cutter Halibut’s small boat was rammed by a fleeing panga-type vessel suspected of conducting illicit smuggling near Santa Cruz, Calif. According to the Final Action Memorandum, Senior Chief Horne’s death was caused by the deliberate actions of the panga operator. The memorandum also states that all Coast Guard units and crews involved in this incident properly followed all applicable policies, tactics, techniques and procedures.

The USCG is America's only armed service with responsibility & authority for direct law enforcement action, on land police officers must meet 'reasonable suspicion' requirement. The Coast Guard is firmly committed to continuing the 'drug war' in the maritime area and, accordingly, drug interdiction is the most significant Coast Guard mission in terms of effort dedicated and money spent. A broad grant of enforcement authority from Congress coupled with an equally broad deference by the judiciary to the use of that power has facilitated this commitment. Congress provided its principal support of Coast Guard law enforcement almost half a century ago, with a statute that has not required amendment to meet modern exigencies.

On Friday, October 15, President Obama signed into law the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 3619). This is the first such authorization act for the Coast Guard since 2006. The statute is lengthy (128 pages) and addresses a wide variety of maritime issues. This article will attempt to identify those provisions expected to have the most impact or of the most interest. I have grouped these provisions into broad categories, although there is some natural overlap. The Coast Guard is provided specific authority to enforce the U.S. coastwise trade laws and its personnel are to be trained with regard to these laws. This provision is somewhat redundant, in that the agency, since its founding as the Revenue Cutter Service in 1790, has had this authority.