Still, how great is the threat of terrorism under the Peace Bridge? Minimal at best. Yet we have a glut of Homeland Security funded police boats patrolling the Niagara River and Lake Erie--Erie County Sheriff's Office, Buffalo Police, US Coast Guard, US Border Patrol, and US Customs. Ominous looking bridge, isn't it with its skimming stones themed arches and colorful lighting isn't it? No matter, we need police boats, lots and lots of police boats to protect us from these dangerous
Never mind the drug gangs kidnapping American tourists after they cross the border into Mexico, we've got to protect ourselves from those dangerous Canadians at all costs. Yes, we play each the Canadian and American national anthems at virtually all sporting events, and at the beginning and end of on air television broadcast days. Yes, we have plenty of Americans with dual citizenship. Yes, we go there to buy stuff because the US dollar is worth more in Fort Erie and shopping there is cheaper. Yes, Canadians shop here because we have more stores and stuff. But we really need to focus our attention and money on protecting Americans from these Canadians on the river and lake.
But these Canadians are too great a threat to US security. We need more and more police boats. Read this from the Buffalo News:
When Mike Moyer takes his motorboat out on Lake Ontario or the Niagara River, he sometimes feels like he's in the middle of a floating police convention.
Moyer remembers when just Coast Guard and sheriff's deputies patroled the Niagara and lakes Ontario and Erie. But nowadays he sometimes sees four or five police boats -- all from different agencies -- within a couple of hours.
"You see all these boats, one after another -- Coast Guard, the Sheriff, Customs, Border Patrol, State Police, State Parks Police. It's a wonder they aren't crashing into each other," said Moyer, 66, whose family has run a small marina in the Wilson Harbor of Niagara County since the 1960s.
"I know they say it's needed for homeland security, and I have nothing against that. But to me, it's more like homeland harassment."
Many of the region's other sheriff's offices, local police departments and local fire departments also have boats on the water for safety and law enforcement, and police presence appears to be at an all-time high.
But if that's true, it's because of an increase in federal patrol of the shore. Sgt. Rick Lauricella of the Erie County Sheriff's Office said his department operates only one boat on a daily basis, and that his is the only New York State agency that does so.
However, Lauricella said he has heard of the problem before. To help combat it, the Sheriff's Office started giving out stickers last year to boaters whose vessels passed safety inspections.
"You can place it on the windshield to let the other agencies know that in that calendar year we inspected your vessel and it was up to par and met with state requirements," Lauricella said. "But it won't necessarily keep any other agency from making a stop or anything."
Moyer is not the only boater or fisherman critical of so many police boats and patrols.
They note that the escalation occurs at a time when fewer pleasure boats are on the water because of high gasoline prices, rising unemployment and the faltering economy.
"We've had customers tell us that they've been stopped and boarded by three or four different police agencies in one afternoon," said Patricia Van Camp, who owns the Big Catch Bait & Tackle Shop on Niagara Street in Buffalo with her husband, William. "To me, it's overkill. It's ludicrous. I don't see how our government has the money anymore to run all these boats."
When asked last week how much of the nation's $43 billion homeland security budget is spent on police boats, spokespersons from the U.S. Homeland Security Department declined to specify.
But a fully equipped police boat can easily cost $250,000 or much more, and the gas-gulping vessels can sometimes use $200 in gasoline in a single hour, especially if operated at high speeds in swift currents, according to law enforcement officials.
One Buffalo boater recalled seeing a local police boat crew spending more than $750 to fill the boat's gas tanks. Yet the Coast Guardsmen in downtown Buffalo who patrol the local waters say they are thankful to have help from other law enforcement agencies.
"A lot of boats from different agencies are on the water, and we're cognizant of that," said Dennis A. O'Connell, officer in charge of the Buffalo station. "But we have a great working relationship with these other agencies. Some of them are out for homeland security, some for boater safety and some for law enforcement. They never get in our way."
O'Connell, Executive Petty Officer Thomas J. D'Amore and Boatswain Mate Blake Carabello spoke of the need for strong enforcement of water safety regulations when a Buffalo News reporter and photographer accompanied them on a recent patrol of Buffalo's inner harbor and the Niagara River.
There may be fewer pleasure boats on the water these days, but some serious incidents occurred on local waterways this summer.
-- July 30, a boat capsized near Strawberry Island in the Niagara River and eight people -- including a pregnant woman -- were rescued.
-- July 17, a Coast Guard crew pulled two men in their 70s from the Niagara River off Youngstown after their sailboat capsized.
-- July 14, a 56-year-old fisherman who is a heart patient was rescued three miles from shore in Lake Erie near Dunkirk after falling out of his boat without a life jacket. In that case, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Marine Patrol came to the man's rescue after he had been in the water for two hours.
"People from these other agencies have helped out many times," O'Connell said.
At Wilson Harbor, fisherman Albert Bodolus, 50, of Athens, Pa., spoke about a scary day two summers ago when he was 17 miles from shore in Lake Ontario and his boat's engine died.
"I called for help, and the Olcott Fire Department sent their boat right out to tow me in," Bodolus said. "I was very thankful. As far as I'm concerned, the more police boats on the water, the better. If you're out on the water on a regular basis, you're going to need their help someday."
But some boaters, such as Moyer and Van Camp, question the need for so many police boats, especially during a time when the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt and there are cries for cutbacks in funding for health, education, poverty programs and Social Security.
"We're told that every government agency is pretty much broke, but we still can find the money for all these boats," Moyer said. "I don't get that."
The Niagara County Sheriff's Office currently operates three boats, and officials there said much of the funding for the operation comes from state government and from federal homeland security programs.
Thomas C. Beatty, the chief deputy in the office, disagrees with Moyer's contention that there are too many police boats on Niagara County waterways.
"We live on an unprotected border with Canada. Our boat crews look for safety and border security issues," Beatty said. "I don't think there are too many police boats out there."
Yes indeedy. We need to protect ourselves from those dangerous Canadians! I have nothing against police boats when it comes to enforcing water safety and rescues. In fact, my brother and his friends were para-sailing a few years ago and the cord got caught up in the motor and started on fire. My brother's best friend grabbed his son and threw him overboard when the boat started on fire. Throwing a kid overboard sounds insane but in this case wasn't insane at all. The boat was quickly engulfed. And the kid had a life preserver on. But yeah, I support the use of police boats for rescues and to ensure that kids have life preservers on. But for Homeland Security because we live on this dangerous unprotected border with Canada???
Meanwhile, another interesting and disturbing article on the pages of the Buffalo News about an employee in the City Clerk's Office issuing a fake birth certificate to a drug dealer, and a local TSA agent protecting these same drug dealers, letting them travel relatively unfettered throughout the airport. Where are the extensive background checks on employees working in sensitive offices that issue critical documents such as birth certificates?
"A former employee of the Buffalo City Clerk's office took a felony guilty plea on Thursday in connection with a federal probe into smuggling and security violations at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
Federal court officials said Regina McCullen, who was fired in May after admitting that she created a false birth certificate, pleaded guilty to a related charge before District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
Authorities said the prosecution of McCullen resulted from an ongoing FBI investigation into Minetta Walker, a former Transportation Security Administration officer.
Walker was arrested in March for allegedly helping drug dealers avoid security inspections at the airport, and federal court officials said Walker is expected to take a guilty plea today before Arcara.
U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. has scheduled a press conference for this afternoon to discuss developments in the airport case.
In Arcara's court on Thursday, McCullen admitted that she created a false birth certificate for a Buffalo-area drug dealer who used that document to travel under a fake name between Buffalo and Phoenix.
McCullen pleaded guilty to a felony charge of creating a false identification document.
She was fired in May, City Hall officials said, after FBI agents questioned her about the phony birth certificate.
Since March, Walker has faced charges of helping drug traffickers to smuggle money through the airport. She denied the charges when arrested last year.
Walker was arrested by FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, who said she was on her way to the airport to pick up a known drug dealer when they picked her up.
"mindlessly doing things is how gov works"