Law Enforcement Team News

Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA delivered the future USS Augusta (LCS 34) to the U.S. Navy today. LCS 34 is the 17th Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) delivered by the company and the second U.S. Navy vessel to be named Augusta in honor of Maine’s state capital.Delivery documents were signed on board the ship and followed the successful completion of acceptance trials during which the ship’s major systems and equipment were tested to demonstrate mission readiness.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-led multi-agency examination of shipping containers at the Philadelphia seaport netted a historic load of cocaine, the largest cocaine seizure in the 230-year history of U.S. Customs and CBP, with an estimated weight of over 17.5 tons and a street value of about $1.1 billion.During a midstream joint boarding Sunday night, CBP, HSI, and U.S. Coast Guard authorities detected anomalies while examining seven shipping containers aboard the MSC Gayane…

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returned to homeport from a 94-day patrol in drug trafficking zones of the Eastern Pacific, after seizing approximately 17,203 pounds of cocaine from suspected smugglers, April 8, 2016. The drugs were seized from nine suspected drug smuggling vessels. The contraband is valued at more than $260 million. Harriet Lane’s crew worked in conjunction with detachments from the Coast Guard’s Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team (PACTACLET) from San Diego…

The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy completed an 18-day joint mission in the Central and South Pacific under the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative to combat transnational crimes, enforce fisheries laws and enhance regional security. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 103 from Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team embarked USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) and conducted 16 fisheries enforcement boardings with the assistance of the ship’s visit, board, search and seizure team and law enforcement ship riders from Tuvalu and Nauru.

USNS Spearhead (T-EPF 1) and an embarked multinational law enforcement team, working with Cameroon Navy Ships Ntem (108) and Sanaga (109), conducted the first ever at-sea customs and fisheries boardings supported by Cameroon Navy. The Cameroon Navy vessels patrolled the entirety of the Cameroon Exclusive Economic Zone for 12 days while conducting at-sea law enforcement operations. In the first AMLEP with Cameroon, U.S. maritime forces worked and trained with 17 Cameroon Navy personnel, two Gabonese Navy officers, six Cameroon customs officers, and seven Cameroon fisheries officers. Utilizing Spearhead’s onboard sensors, Sea Vision and the Multi-national Coordination Center for maritime domain awareness…

The crew could not have been separated from the dock for more than an hour. The thick salt air had barely filled their lungs. Cell phone towers in Key West, Florida, were still visible with a squint of an eye. A voice rang out on the back deck, “Two seven zero. Three hundred yards! A crewmember from Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team South, Miami, had spotted what appeared to be Cuban nationals on a make-shift raft, headed for the U.S. The highly trained law enforcement official was one of two TACLET South team members sent to supplement the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore, homeported in Key West. A voice rang through the 154-foot cutter, “Now set AMIO phase one!” Alien Migrant Interdiction Operations had begun.

Crewmembers of Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Florida, offloaded 254 kilograms of cocaine and 3,662 pounds of marijuana interdicted in the Caribbean Sea as part of Operation  Martillo worth an estimated wholesale value of $11.8 million, at Base Miami Beach, Friday. On Sept. 3, a maritime patrol aircraft reported a suspicious Panamanian flagged sailing vessel southeast of Nicaragua. Coast Guard Cutter Robert Yered arrived on scene and attempted to contact the vessel. With no response to radio calls, and the vessel not slowing down, the Robert Yered launched its smallboat with a law enforcement team and subsequently boarded the vessel after receiving permission from the Panamanian government.

U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment Team (LEDET) 101 embarked and integrated with Sailors on the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Gary (FFG 51) for training and anti-drug smuggling operations off the California coast, Aug. 26-29. "We are currently supporting counter-smuggling operations by providing law enforcement capabilities to Third Fleet Navy platforms in known drug and migrant transit corridors," said Coast Guard Chief Maritime Enforcement Specialist Chris Sinclair…

A Change of Command Ceremony was held at Reservation Point aboard Base San Pedro, Wednesday for the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team Los Angeles-Long Beach (MSST LA-LB). During the ceremony Lt. Cmdr. Taylor Lam assumed the duties and responsibilities as commanding officer of MSST LA-LB from Lt. Cmdr. Tim Margita while Capt. Thomas E. Crabbs presided over the ceremony. Lam comes to MSST LA-LB from the Office of Congressional Affaris in Washington, D.C. He served at the former Tactical Law Enforcement Team North where he deployed aboard U.S. and Foreign Naval ships conducting Maritime Law Enforcement operations in the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans.

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.

U.S. Coast Guard personnel, working with members of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, interdicted a Canadian commercial fishing vessel allegedly fishing illegally on Lake Erie in waters subject to U.S. and Ohio jurisdiction. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources personnel contacted Coast Guard Sector Detroit, alerting watchstanders in Sector Detroit’s Command Center of a commercial vessel potentially fishing in U.S./Ohio waters near North Bass Island. A law enforcement team from Coast Guard Station Marblehead, Ohio, launched aboard a 33-foot Special Purpose Craft-Law Enforcement and determined that the ADCO II was actively engaged in fishing about 160 yards inside U.S. waters. Aircrews from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit and U.S.

Admiral Robert Natter, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Vice Adm. Thad Allen, Commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, jointly announced the assignment of four Cyclone-Class Navy Patrol Coastal (PC) ships in support of the nation’s homeland security Operation Noble Eagle. Two additional PCs will be assigned to the Pacific Coast. For the first time, U.S. Navy ships will be employed jointly with the U.S. Coast Guard to help protect our nation’s coastline, ports and waterways from terrorist attack. “The Atlantic Fleet is working closely with the Coast Guard to ensure the security of our Gulf and east coast ports,” said Admiral Natter. “These ships will be used for coastal patrol and interdiction efforts with the Coast Guard.

U.S. Coast Guard Damage Controlman Third Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal, 24, from Smithtown, N.Y., died from injuries sustained when a small boat exploded as he and six other coalition sailors attempted to board it near the Iraqi Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal Saturday. Injured was Boatswains Mate Third Class Joseph T. Ruggiero, 23, from Revere, Mass., who is recovering in a hospital in Kuwait. The two men were assigned to Law Enforcement Detachment 403 from Tactical Law Enforcement Team South in Miami, Fla., and were deployed to Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia at the time of the incident. Two Coast Guardsmen and five Navy sailors aboard a rigid hull inflatable boat were preparing to board a dhow that had approached the terminal when the explosion occurred. Two U.S.

New security regulations and specially trained port security teams are among the newest tools being employed in Operation Neptune Shield, the Coast Guard's plan for fighting the global war on terrorism here at home, as military operations continue against Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters overseas. "Since Sept. 11, the Coast Guard has implemented a multi-layered strategy for protecting our ports and waterways," said Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. Thad Allen. "Under Operation Neptune Shield, new regulations, additional resources and a closer working relationship with our intelligence and law enforcement partners have allowed us to harden our borders.

New security regulations and specially trained port security teams are among the newest tools being employed in Operation Neptune Shield, the Coast Guard's plan for fighting the global war on terrorism here at home, as military operations continue against Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters overseas. "Since Sept. 11, the Coast Guard has implemented a multi-layered strategy for protecting our ports and waterways," said Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. Thad Allen. "Under Operation Neptune Shield, new regulations, additional resources and a closer working relationship with our intelligence and law enforcement partners have allowed us to harden our borders.

A Coast Guard law enforcement team from Station Mayport, Fla. assisted in the rescue and detention of an illegal migrant believed to be an Ukrainian citizen who reportedly jumped off the freighter Kamchatskiy Proliv as the ship departed the Port of Jacksonville about 12 a.m. yesterday. The crew of the fishing vessel Hooked on Snook, while participating in the Greater Jacksonville King Fish Tournament, sighted the man in the water three miles east of Mayport about 10:45 a.m. yesterday. The crew of the Hooked on Snook recovered the man out of the water and contacted the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard law enforcement team was dispatched to rendezvous with the Hooked on Snook. The Ukrainian man was taken into custody and brought to Coast Guard Station Mayport where he was turned over to U.S.

“Everyone remain calm! We are the U.S. Coast Guard and we’re here to conduct a security boarding,” a law-enforcement officer announces as his teams rush aboard an elegant, white cruise ship. The teams: Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Teams from Boston and New Orleans. The vessel: the Spirit of Boston, an upscale, commercial, dinner cruise ship nestled in the heart of metropolitan Boston. This exercise was part of quarterly, week-long training for MSST’s throughout the Coast Guard. The final day of training was held aboard the privately-owned commercial ship. The ship granted the law enforcement team’s access to an authentic environment so they could implement learned tactics in a realistic setting.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous is scheduled to hold a change-of-command ceremony at the ship's homeport here. During the ceremony, Cmdr. Glenn Grahl will be formally relieved as commanding officer of the cutter by Cmdr. Paul Flynn. The CGC Vigorous is a 210-ft. medium-endurance cutter homeported at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Flynn began his Coast Guard career in 1991 on CGC Papaw, out of Galveston, Texas. In 1993, he was selected as the commanding officer of CGC Point Baker, out of Sabine, Texas. In 1995, Flynn attended the University of Rhode Island graduate school earning a Master's Degree in Marine Affairs. Following graduate school, Flynn was assigned to the Office of Law Enforcement, 17th Coast Guard District in Juneau, Alaska.

The Coast Guard Cutter Tornado will welcome its new Commanding Officer during a change-of-command ceremony at the Naval Station in Pascagoula, Miss. on Fridayy. Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Landolfi Jr. will relieve Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Hollingshead who served as the Commanding Officer of the Tornado for the past two years. Hollingshead assumed command of Coast Guard Cutter Tornado in October 2004. Tornado is one of five 179-foot Cyclone-class Patrol Coastal cutters (PC-179s) transferred to the Coast Guard from the Navy. Tornado rapidly proved ideally-suited for Coast Guard operations as it deployed in support of the Coast Guard counter-drug, alien migrant interdiction, homeland security, and search and rescue missions in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Florida Straits, and Atlantic Ocean.

The crew of the 378-ft. Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin returned to their homeport of Charleston, S.C. Sunday after a three-month deployment to the Caribbean Sea in support of Operations New Frontier and Frontier Shield. During their patrol, Gallatin crewmembers intercepted two boats involved in human smuggling, conducted counter-narcotics operations with the Coast Guard Cutter Dallas and completed a joint fueling at sea with the British oil tanker Oakleaf. Just a few days into their patrol, Gallatin’s bridge crew located an unlighted 20-foot boat with three people on board four miles off the coast of St. Croix Sept. 15. A Gallatin law enforcement team boarded the vessel.

USCG law enforcement officers terminated the voyage of a vessel near Petersburg, after the officers found discrepancies with the vessel's survival equipment. A law enforcement team from USCG patrol boat, Anacapa, boarded F/V Yabut, near Petersburg to conduct a safety inspection. The USCG personnel found the vessel's survival suits didn't have the required flotation belts. A review of the vessel's records showed the same discrepancy was noted in February, during a courtesy inspection. USCG officials ordered the vessel's owner and operator, Anthony Muskavage of Petersburg, to moor his vessel until he obtained the flotation belts and notified the USCG.