Lake Boca was filled with boats, partiers and music on April 26 for Boca Bash, an annual party on the Intracoastal Waterway between the Camino Real and Palmetto Park Road bridges. The Boca Bash takes place each spring. In the foreground is a boat operated by Boca Raton Police officers who patrolled to ensure boater safety. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Willie Howard
Law enforcement in southern Palm Beach County is not always confined to land.
When crowds gather on the water — as they did in late April during the annual Boca Bash on Lake Boca — or when crime suspects dive into the water in attempts to avoid arrest, police take to the water in boats.
Police departments in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Lantana have boats and officers trained to use them for law enforcement — known in police jargon as “marine units.”
The Boca Raton City Council in March agreed to spend just over $300,000 for two rigid-hull inflatable police boats and engines to replace two older police boats. The city has four police boats, including two 30-foot Intrepid center consoles, all of which are stored on lifts at Spanish River Park.
Lantana police have one boat — a 28-foot Hydrasports they found with bogus hull-identification numbers on it about two years ago. After they were unable to find the lawful owner, the department modified the boat for police use, Sgt. James Eddy said.
Delray Beach used to have a volunteer marine unit, but it was disbanded when tight budgets forced the city to sell the boat at auction a few years ago, Officer Jeffrey Messer said. Delray Beach police still use a small Boston Whaler for their dive team — a boat that was seized by the department after it was found abandoned on the beach.
In Boynton Beach, the police marine unit includes two trained officers and two boats — including a relatively new 32-foot Contender named Seized Assets that was purchased in 2013 with money from the sale of boats, engines and other property used in crimes, meaning taxpayers didn’t have to pay for it.
Boynton Beach marine unit officers Gregg Koch and Darin Hederian demonstrated the need for on-the-water patrols in November 2011. They noticed a boat that had run aground between Boynton Inlet and the boat ramps at Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park.
The Boynton Beach officers pulled up alongside the 31-foot boat to question two men on board. After questioning, the men became nervous and fled. They were arrested, and police found a large stash of marijuana hidden on the boat.
Marine officers’ work often consists of more routine matters, such as moving broken-down boats out of the Intracoastal Waterway to clear the navigation channel or stopping boaters to inform them about proper boating laws.
Maintaining order during special events is part of the job. Boca Raton’s marine officers were out in force during the annual Boca Bash in late April, when hundreds of people celebrated spring on Lake Boca.
At last year’s Boca Bash, Boca Raton police arrested six people for offenses including boating under the influence, domestic battery, trespassing and disorderly conduct.
During the past year, Boca Raton’s marine officers have used their boats to nab suspects in more serious crimes.
Not long after two men kidnapped a Boca Raton business owner in Delray Beach on the morning of Feb. 24 and forced him at gunpoint to withdraw money from a bank teller machine, they returned to the man’s office in Boca Raton, then took off running when a burglar alarm sounded.
After a search with dogs ended, a Boca Raton police officer noticed a young man jumping a fence, headed east. The marine unit was called. One of the suspects, a 15-year-old boy, was found floating in the Intracoastal Waterway on a pool float that resembled a killer whale.
On Aug. 26, a man crashed his car into a Delray Beach police cruiser and took off running. The man swam across a canal and ran between houses to elude police.
During the chase, the man broke into a house in Boca Raton and told the owners he was a landscaping worker who needed water.
When he heard police in the area, he took off running. Officers with Boca Raton’s marine unit pulled the 22-year-old man from the Intracoastal Waterway near Northeast 78th Street. He was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling.
Because there are far fewer law-enforcement boats than police cruisers, waterborne police stray from their home waters to help other departments and agencies when necessary.
Boynton Beach police helped control the crowds during the March Floatopia gathering in the shallows around Peanut Island, near the Port of Palm Beach.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will call marine-unit officers from several coastal cities if they need help on the water, said Eddy of the Lantana Police Department.
Lantana’s marine unit officers also catch speeders on the water. The department receives $16,000 annually for manatee speed-zone enforcement to help protect the endangered marine mammals from being hit by speeding boats.
“We try to educate people,” Eddy said, referring to boaters who might not be familiar with manatee speed zones. “But if we pull someone over who we’ve issued warnings to before, they’re going to get a ticket.”
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