Venice - $168 fine for no flag..

[taildragger]

who is saying that they are not ticketing boaters as well? at least the law enforcement is out there on the water doing their jobs, and now you are going to complain about who they are going the tickets too? geez I guess some scubaboarders are only pro law enforcment when the laws they think should be enforced are enforced.

Geez Wendy: You are either a gal that is a cop or dates a cop but you need to lighten up on the people here. Not all cops are good guys doing thier job some are an opportunist who does just enough to get by and with the least amount of resistance. I respect the law and enforcement of the law but a warning would sometimes get the point across instead of the big money game. Of course it is the end of the month and the quota has probably not yet been filled. Get real and come down to earth gal. Common sense will get you allot more points.

 

[bdrannik]

What happened to the diver?

This is getting somewhat off-topic from the thread, but here is
an article about the death.. Takes a bit to load:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040824/NEWS/408240596/1001/NEWS0105

She ran out of air at approximately 11am, they didn't find the body until 3:30pm.
People point out two errors. One that she didn't have a flag, and two that she
was not wearing a BC. dive4funOften: Having been diving with me and knowing
that I also do not wear a BC, you should realize that I'm somewhat biased about
the second "problem" hehe.. And no, I absolutely do not recommend diving this way
without the experience and capabilities to resolve problems that might arise.
And yes, according to the article she was diving with a buddy.

 

[bdrannik]

I respect the law and enforcement of the law but a warning would sometimes get the point across instead of the big money game. Of course it is the end of the month and the quota has probably not yet been filled. Get real and come down to earth gal. Common sense will get you allot more points.

In this case, I think it was more the fact that one of the gals came up with "an attitude".. The general consensus from the divers standing around on the beach was that if one of the two gals had not got quite so miffled up, there was a good chance they'd get a warning..

Some people seem to think that this initial thread was a "complaint" about the officers giving the gals a ticket.. Quite the opposite.. Anybody who dives with me (Taildragger has more dives with me than anyone else on SB) knows that I don't get near the water without a flag. The purpose of the initial thread was to remind people as to the importance of having a flag with you, not just for safety but also the risk to the pocketbook..

Side Note: Taildragger - diver number three is all set for the trip tomorrow.. She'll meet us at the scuba shop 9AM..

 

[CBulla]

geez I guess some scubaboarders are only pro law enforcment when the laws they think should be enforced are enforced.

Sad.. I'm goofy on pain killers or I'd have caught this sooner. Reefguy works for law enforcement. Also, if you dive VB often you'll notice that while boats are in abundance, marine law enforcement is seen less often than a meg is found.

The same is noticed in the WPB and LBTS area - divers are easy targets because we walk up to our cars. Jenny got a warning for picking up a peice of fishing pole from the reef to throw out because it could have been used as a tickle stick. HOWEVER, the boat that raced between the dive flag with she and my wife under it and another flag that had 2 other SBers some 50 feet away and blatently broke the law regarding dive flags wasn't even given a second look or called in.

I would LOVE the opportunity to be a Marine Patrol or marine law enforcement officer for a county.. There might be a special interest lynch mob after me, but I'd enforce the laws that are out there equally to everyone.

 

[Wildbill]

bdrannick is right. If the girls had a 'tude with the officer then they more than likely talked themselves into the tickets. I have had more than a couple of folks "talk" themselves into one.

It's a shame about the woman though. I didn't even hear about it. The article stated that she ran out of air???? A the most she was only in about 20' =/- of water, she couldn't hold her breath long eneough to get to the surface? And she didn't have a BC :06:

Anyway, I hope to get up there in a week or two.

Wildbill:cop_2:

 

[Wendy]

Geez Wendy: You are either a gal that is a cop or dates a cop but you need to lighten up on the people here. Not all cops are good guys doing thier job some are an opportunist who does just enough to get by and with the least amount of resistance. I respect the law and enforcement of the law but a warning would sometimes get the point across instead of the big money game. Of course it is the end of the month and the quota has probably not yet been filled. Get real and come down to earth gal. Common sense will get you allot more points.

I do work in law enforcement, and we don't have quotas. that is a myth, at least as far as my agency goes. if you think that boaters need to get more tickets then complain to your local law enforcment to step up patrols in the water when divers are present.

 

[bdrannik]

It's a shame about the woman though. I didn't even hear about it. The article stated that she ran out of air???? A the most she was only in about 20' =/- of water, she couldn't hold her breath long eneough to get to the surface? And she didn't have a BC :06:
Wildbill:cop_2:

Off-topic but the rest of the thread is still on pretty much on track so I'll do a quicky response:

Yip, we had three diver deaths at Venice this summer within 3 weeks of each other.. Well, sort-of three, depending on how you look at it.. 1) Diver death at Venice while diving (above). 2) Diver finished diving, went for a swim and died from rip current exhaustion. 3) Diver complications while diving from boat off Venice, came ashore at the public beach and passed away. Number 3 was told to me from a Venice lifeguard while we were discussing #1 and #2...

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

The same is noticed in the WPB and LBTS area - divers are easy targets because we walk up to our cars. Jenny got a warning for picking up a peice of fishing pole from the reef to throw out because it could have been used as a tickle stick. HOWEVER, the boat that raced between the dive flag with she and my wife under it and another flag that had 2 other SBers some 50 feet away and blatently broke the law regarding dive flags wasn't even given a second look or called in.

Just want to clarify a point. I got the warning for not having my lobster license on me while doing a beach dive. I had it in my car. Colin is correct tho, that a boat did split the dive flags an hour and a half later and no marine patrol in sight.

 

[CBulla]

Point being that you were targeted and given more grief for trying to do the right thing and clean up as you dive, accused of something else, and in the mean time a blatent law breaking occurs and not-a-thing is done.

The most irritating, yet funniest, question I was asked after watching a boat try to kill me up at Venice was "did you get the bow numbers?" I wanted to beat the officer with my tanks! "Oh sure, I was at 18' and saw them with absolute clarity, I even got the serial numbers off the props as it went by on the 2nd and 3rd pass," is what I wanted to reply. I was asked that question while standing by my wifes jeep on Alhambra talking to one of Venice's PD officers about the boats buzzing flags.

 

[JRScuba]

Having just read the posts it seems that we should invite the " law enforcement" people to dive at Pompano, LBTS or one of the other spots that boats use our dive flags for target practice.
Multiple times while diving with Jenny and others, the boats were screaming over our heads. No marine police, BSO or any other agency was around to enforce THE LAW.
Take a trip to Mike Jacobs thread on his divyak and see how much sympathy he received from the LAW ENFORCEMENT.
Boatlawyer did a nice clarification about the "law" regarding the dive flag. Ending with, now if someone got hurt that would be another story. Isn't that why the dive flag law was written - prevention.
I concur with CBULLA, as life in general goes - there are good guys and bad guys. What we need to see more often is the good guys.

Dive Safely

Joe