Mason County Sheriff's Office patrol boats in 'dismal' condition

[Dave]

I for the most part stayed out of the 'circus' related to the last election for sheriff. Regardless of the outcome of said election, you do have to wonder why the maintenance of the boats was apparently limited to the point that there is only one working boat.

MASON COUNTY, MI – The Mason County Sheriff’s Office is in dire need of upgrades to its patrol boats, according to a report by the Ludington Daily News.

Sheriff Kim Cole is proposing to a Mason County Board committee to buy three new patrol vehicles and repair three police patrol boats.

Cole told the board in a written statement that the “state of our patrol boats is dismal” and said he’s seeking funds to repair all three, the Daily News reported.

Cole said the only working boat is a 15-footer that is too small for service on big lakes, including Hamlin, Pere Marquette and Ford. Both engines in a larger boat are blown, Cole said, and need to be replaced, which would cost an estimated $26,190, the Daily News reported.

A 22-foot, ridged-hull inflatable boat that was used on Hamlin and other large lakes has a blown engine and an air leak in one chamber, and a 14-foot boat isn’t usable because the motor won’t lock down.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2013/03/report_mason_c...

[Chuck Finley]

It's not like we have any water to patrol in mason county

[AQUAMAN]

We actually have a lot of water to patrol in Mason County, not that I'm in favor of it when fisherman want peace and privacy. I believe that $26K figure for repairing engines on the 22' boat sounds awfully high, unless they mean replacing with brand new fancy 4 stroke outboards, they are expensive. But the question should be two-fold imho: 1) do we have competitive bids for all repairs? repairs s/b less than half of proposed costs, and 2) could the boats be traded/sold and replaced with a newer boat for less money. If I was Cole, I'd be talking to Chief Barnett about how to go about possibly getting a new/newer boat thru grants/State funding that may match or completely pay for this project. The LPD/LFD got a free boat, new, that would have cost upwards of over $200K to taxpayers for making the right application to the right agency on a timely basis, and it's in service now as a patrol/fire boat. Quite a nice boat too.

[XLFD]

The figures are outrageous, and I would also agree with you that there should be the means for the MCSO to patrol the water in Mason County.  Instead of spending tons of money on boats and their upkeep, why not invest pennies to the dollar on low-maintenance jet skis.  The MCSO may even be able to get a local business to donate these for service like they did for these Massachusetts police Wareham Jet Ski Patrol.  The quickness, portability, and low cost makes this an ideal way to conduct patrols, and even to assist in other waterborne operations-- even without donated watercraft you can make a  purchase of $330 for a quality jet ski. 

Or we could just keep a lot of boats that obviously have little upkeep done by the unionized stewards of them. 

[Jane]

lolol X, that is a remote control jet ski. A nice new one will run 8-15K.

Kawasaki Motors public safety program let's police departments *try out* jet ski's for 11 months. I couldn't find anything on Kawasaki's site in a perfunctory google search to find out what happens after the 11 months are up such as weather they then purchase them or trade in for a new model.

[XLFD]

You caught me.  I saw the ad for the remote control jet ski for $300 next to the $7K plus models and had to go with it since it seemed to offer a bunch of frills in the ad.  Smaller, remote control ones would likely be safer, you know. 

[masonco]

Who is running those boats so fast and furious they are blowing all these engines? The quote seems excessive to me.

hem need new cars to "retire" old ones? and Cole needs to spend how much for ventilation system at the jail? Plus buy all corrections officers new stab proof vests?

Hmm is Cole really republican? Where will the spending end? Sure hope the board starts saying N O NO and NO to this spending spree.

[XLFD]

Strident union steward; active advocate for unlimited spending; unapologetic violator of Martin Schilling's civil liberties.  Check out anything in his political field of play.  You could say Sheriff Cole is expanding the Republican base... or say he in no way represents any kind of conservative value. 

[Willy]

If there has been no huge demand for the one boat still in service then what is the need for six of them and who is going to be patrolling in them. It seems to me that if six boats are put into commission then a lot of officers will be pulled off the streets in order to service a low priority need compared to being on land duty where the officers must deal not only with traffic violations but must also deal with serious crimes as well.

[masonco]

Willy so true. I also know there is something to the point boats should be winterized. Do they winterize those boats? Why don't they?

[Lisa O'Brien]

Aquaman,

Don't you have a fishing business - what would cause all these boat motors to be blown? 

[Jane]

Not that I know much about boats, but what I do know tells me that boats are one of those pita type of engines to keep running.

Think about it, if you know someone with a boat what do thaty have to do each year to get their boat out and ready.That is unless they have high dollar engines like AQ speaks of.

I guess I would rather buy a nice new boat and keep it in tip top shape than a used boat that will need yearly work just to get it started in the spring.

Another similarity is snowmobiles and motorcycles, each season it takes time to get them going.

[XLFD]

Rescue/recovery problems often coincide with bad weather, so having a good sized high-powered working boat on a trailer in town is a good idea.  If response time is compromised by the time it takes to get it to one of our many lakes, there's always the option for the first units responding to commandeer someone's boat for rescue or recovery.  But they do need some better maintenance program, whatever they do.