I shit you not.
Text of official news release:
"The Fairfax County Police Department would like to promote a safe and sober holiday through education and enforcement. Officers from the Franconia District Station will conduct a sobriety checkpoint to deter and apprehend intoxicated boaters from 10 p.m. Friday, July 4 until midnight Saturday. All boats will be stopped and boaters will be checked to assure that their abilities to drive have not been impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Members of the media are invited to attend this enforcement effort. Please contact the PIO office before 5:00 p.m. on July 1, or the Public Safety Communications Center supervisor after that time to obtain the location of the checkpoint. Interview and photographic opportunities with police personnel will be available."

Link to official news release: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/reports/Reports2005/070105BWICheckpoint.doc

Wow Fairfax County, I'm speechless.
I would assume this means Burke Lake Park or possibly Lake Accotink Park. Link to waterfront parks: http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/parks/lakefront.htm
Is there an actual law against this? I searched but couldn't find one.
Would a judge actually take away your drivers license and send you to ASAP for getting a BWI? Would it actually show up on your record as a BWI? I searched through the arrest list and couldn't find anyone that's been arrested for a boating related alcohol offense before.

Crazy, and of course there's not a peep from the mainstream media outlets.

Well first off, if this has to do with any public park lakes etc then alcohol isn't allowed on park property at all. As for being drunk PRIOR to arriving at the park and getting in your boat, who knows. Obviously they're talking about stopping boats so they'll be checking people when they're already in their boat I'm guessing. I wonder how you would do a sobriety test in a rocking boat. Guess they'd have to use a breathalizer.

As far as I know, you can get charged with DUI/DWI for operating *any* vehicle. Bikes, riding lawnmowers, etc. Boats are no exception.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2015 02:40AM by darbrewe.

don't drink and drive. Anyone who still presses luck with this one and is a potential threat to anyone's safety deserves to be caught and removed from the situation.

If I'm drinking and driving, I'm taking my own risks. If I get caught, then that was the risk I took. They only do the sobriety testing because they know they can reap rewards from the effort. If they caught no one, they'd move on to other endeavors.

Viriginia cannot legally patrol the Potomac River. It is owned by Maryland by treaty, and therefore, it is MD jurisdiction. I've had run-ins with boat cops on the Potomac, and they were from WV or MD. Never VA.

Any boating license you have is probably just an extension of your driver's license, as is a license to operate many other special vehicles.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2015 02:40AM by darbrewe.

July 4th is not friday. Also, the Occoquan (sp?) river i think belongs to the county and is popular with boaters who may be heading to or returning from the potomac.

This could be at the Pohick Bay Marina, Pohick Bay is owned by Fairfax County up to the point where it spills into the Potomac. And I have seen Fairfax Police boats there before.

It will be at Pohick Bay park on the 4th of July after 9 at night until sometime in the morning. They'll be checking boatt operators as they arrive. I think it is a new state law. The bay and park are in Fairfax Jurisdiction. I suggest, if you're gonna drop you're boat in, go to Occoquan Park boat ramp.

I overheard two policemen at the Saratoga McDonald's talking about signing up for the "overtime" at the boating sobriety checkpoint. They said that it was going to be at some marina on the Occoquan. They said the name but I'm not familiar with boat marina's, so it didn't mean anything to me.

I know exactly where the checkpoint is tonight:) I'll give ya a hint and say it starts with a P. haha

but seriously..one should not care where this is. You should not be out on the waters or on the road drunk. People get killed everyday due to drunk drivers.


late

I think it it worth caring about to those of us who enjoy drinking excessively and boating.

I mean, nothing is more embarassing than coming around a turn full throttle, open bottle of grey goose in one hand and a lit joint in the other, and running head-on into a police boat. The joint would totally fly out of your hand and into the water, ruining a perfectly good joint. And the vodka would make a mess, smashed all over the floor of the boat. I doubt the cops carry paper towels to help with that mess, so it would be best if you knew where they were in advance so you don't have to worry about it. Who wants to spend the whole 4th worrying about paper towels when they're cruising the occoquan at eighty knots and three sheets?

What a buzzkill.

First I want to say thanks for the inside information to all that provided it.
The checkpoint was at "Three Docks in Pohick Bay Park."

Here's the text of the results:
Fairfax County Police Officers from the Franconia District Station conducted a sobriety checkpoint to deter and apprehend intoxicated boaters Monday, July 4 from 10 p.m. until midnight Tuesday. All boats were stopped, and the operators were checked to assure their abilities to drive had not been impaired by alcohol or drugs. Approximately 43 boats passed through the checkpoint conducted at Three Docks in Pohick Bay Park. No boaters were arrested although two were issued summonses for navigation light violations and one was issued a ticket for no registration.

Usual link to official news release (actually in html format this time): http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/ps/police/reports/Reports2005/070505bwiresultsfra.htm

Cary Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No boaters were
> arrested although two were issued summonses for
> navigation light violations and one was issued a
> ticket for no registration.

My eyes just rolled out of my head.

maybe if the guy who was KILLED on the river due to alcohol on Monday night passed through the checkpoint, he would still be alive.....

False...Fairfax County, Prince William County and the Game Warden all have Police boats that they patrol the Potomac River with (trust me, I boat 3-4 days a week). As for drinking and boating, it's going to happen...you can't stop it. If they want to make the waters safer, why are they waiting until you get all the way back to the dock to give one a sobriety test - they've already made it back to the dock....SAFELY! What they need to do is patrol all these newby boat owners who don't mind the rules of the water. I'm all about safe boating, but clearly the people that have a couple beers and make it back to the dock safely are not the problem out there. Keep making your money Fairfax, financial times are tight for me too!

{Digging up an 2005 thread are we}

Fairfax and PW do not patrol the majority of the Potomac River, they patrol the areas of the Potomac while getting to and from the various areas that belong to their jurisdiction. The areas known as Fairfax Waters and PW waters.

---> Trust me, I try to stay out of their jurisdiction as much as possible.

Happy Boating!

Designated Capt.

Landlubber:

This is not entirely correct. VA waters extend from any two points of VA land which protrude into the Potomac River. Once that line has been breached you are then in Maryland Waters. In essence there is not much VA water on the Potomac, but it does exsist.

FFX County Police do patrol, and pull over boats starting from Pohick Bay all the way to Tims River Shore (Across from Indian Head Naval Base). While they do not have jurisdiction in the channel around Tim's River Shore they do have jurisdiction of the Channel right outside of Pohick Bay.

I have regularly seen them pull over boats leaving Tim's Rivershore heading south. It is a bit funny to me that FFX County Complains they have no money, but the boat the use is a very expensive Fountain Speedboat with all the bells and whistles.

Fairfax loves to waste money and they only buy the best. Considering the Coast Guard conducts checks and the county has such a small portion of water there is no need to have a boat patrol.

Tims Rivershore, wouldnt that be up to PWC to patrol?

TrickyDick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is a bit funny
> to me that FFX County Complains they have no
> money, but the boat the use is a very expensive
> Fountain Speedboat with all the bells and
> whistles.

... quite possibly acquired through forfeiture.

TrickyDick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I need to make a correction on this, I meant to say heading North, not South.
>
> I have regularly seen them pull over boats leaving
> Tim's Rivershore heading south. It is a bit funny
> to me that FFX County Complains they have no
> money, but the boat the use is a very expensive
> Fountain Speedboat with all the bells and
> whistles.

JBass - I have never seen PWC there, but regularly see FFX CTY's Fountain. It such a nice boat its hard to miss. Most of the time they sit close to the point near the Occoquan, but I have seen them drive through the front of Tim's checking boats when there is a lot of activity.

TrickyDick

I've been launching at Pohick for years and I saw something the other day that I never had.

A cop was walking from boat trailer to boat trailer writing tickets...I assume for not paying the $8 launch fee. On weekdays it's on the "honor system", you put the money in an envelope and drop it in the slot.

It's pretty obvious that there is little "honor" in Fairfax County (surprise!). Out of about a dozen trucks and trailers parked, only mine and another rig did NOT get a ticket!

I hope those tickets cost at least what a season ramp pass does.

TrickyDick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Landlubber:
>
> This is not entirely correct. VA waters extend
> from any two points of VA land which protrude into
> the Potomac River. Once that line has been
> breached you are then in Maryland Waters. In
> essence there is not much VA water on the Potomac,
> but it does exsist.
>

I said..
...from the various areas that belong to their jurisdiction. The areas known as Fairfax Waters and PW waters.

Douge Creek, Pohick Bay and the Occoquan River, being FFX waters..

Tim's? (been going there for over 13 yrs now) I never seen FFx on duty there.

I'll be on the H2O in the morn', and and grilling for lunch, unless I microwave lunch...

say Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been launching at Pohick for years and I saw
> something the other day that I never had.
>
> A cop was walking from boat trailer to boat
> trailer writing tickets...I assume for not paying
> the $8 launch fee. On weekdays it's on the "honor
> system", you put the money in an envelope and drop
> it in the slot.
>
> It's pretty obvious that there is little "honor"
> in Fairfax County (surprise!). Out of about a
> dozen trucks and trailers parked, only mine and
> another rig did NOT get a ticket!
>
> I hope those tickets cost at least what a season
> ramp pass does.


Say,

the Park Authority writes the tickets for not paying the launch fee, not the Police. However, what the Officer was doing was writing tickets for trailer inspections (dead or none at all). This is a pretty common practice at Pohick as it is a HUGE moneymaker. Be safe out there!