Should They Board, or Shouldn't they?

[george]

@overboard Here is your quote and then my response to your take on enforcement

Freedoms......what a joke.

Stop and see frisk was the single biggest deterrent of crime in NYC but unfortunately couldn't survive the liberal axe.

Being stopped and questioned by a boat with 6 armed federalies in Panama was a fairly good deterrent.

Getting boarded is not such a big deal as you make it out to be. It's the only thing we have that could possibly prevent complete anarchy on the water.


My response:

I back law enforcement and I am far from a liberal. But I do not agree with the idea that someone can look at you and say check him he looks like a bad guy. That is not how freedom works.

Anarchy? Anglers do not poach because we fear getting caught. We know the odds of that happening are next to nothing. We follow the law because we respect it and because we care about the fishery. Even if every recreational angler who kept a short or went over the limit was caught it would not add one more fish for anyone. That is not the same as a commercial poacher filling a truck to sell fish.

We waste too much time on this as if it is the fix for rebuilding fisheries. All it really does is make us look bad while changing nothing at all.

 

[OVERBORED]

Is there ever a "correct" way to enforce the law?

In a conversation with a friend about the West Indian parade in Brooklyn, years ago, some superiors were so worried about wrongful arrests that they ordered officers to to ignore gun shots unless the saw the perp with a gun in their hand.

Do we tell DEC to sit tight and wait until they see a guy with a short on a filet table at the dock? How exactly are they supposed to enforce the regulations without the element of surprise?

 

[Avenger]

I wonder how you'd feel about police cars randomly pulling you over any time you're driving because it's possible that you may be committing a crime.