PORT ANGELES — As another boating season comes to an end, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol Unit can look back on a banner year.
Clallam County Marine Patrol bested 53 other agencies across the state to win the Marine Law Enforcement Program of the Year award for 2009.
Deputies Ralph Edgington, Jef Boyd, Eric Munger, Bobby Cannon and Sgt. Randy Pieper received their plaque Oct. 7 at the Marine Law Enforcement Conference in Vancouver, Wash., hosted by Washington State Parks.
The plaque commends the unit “for overall excellence in marine law enforcement and boater safety education.”
Jefferson County has its own Marine Division. It won the Program of the Year award in 2002 but did not receive an award this year, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Stringer said.
Jefferson County Marine Patrol has a custom-made aluminum patrol boat called the Integrity. The 24-foot boat has twin 115-horsepower Yamaha engines and was placed into service in February 2002.
Smaller, but better
Most of the other marine patrols at this year’s conference were much larger than Clallam County’s part-time unit.
Edgington, the de-facto skipper of Clallam’s unit, said he was “very pleased” when he found the unit had won.
“We worked real hard,” he said.
Munger said Edgington has done a good job making the unit efficient and more cost-effective.
This year, the Clallam County Marine Patrol increased its inspections-per-hour ratio from 1.5 to 3.3.
Marine Patrol made more than 1,000 on-water inspections.
It patrolled the Discovery Bay Fishing Derby, Port Angeles Halibut Derby, Sekiu Halibut Derby, Lake Pleasant Hydro Races, Port Angeles Fourth of July fireworks show and the openings of the halibut and salmon fishing seasons.
It works closely with the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
When Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict, a former marine patroller, was elected sheriff in 2007, he set out to reorganize the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol Unit to accomplish the following goals:
• Reduce the cost of operation.
• Increase patrol hours and patrol activity.
• Establish boater education and water safety programs.
• Reduce Boating Under the Influence cases, boating accidents and boating deaths.
• Establish working relationships with boating programs in other jurisdictions.
“He [Benedict] wanted to have the best boating unit in the state,” Edgington recalled.
“Well, in 2009 we did that.”
Benedict gave Edgington the resources and the freedom to turn his vision into reality.
Goal: best in state
“It has always been my goal to be the best boating agency in the state,” Benedict said. “Ralph did it.”
Marine Patrol saved thousands of dollars and doubled its efficiency by streamlining the fleet, he said.
The agency converted a 19-foot Zodiac inflatable that it seized from drug-traffickers in 2004 into the main patrol boat for the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Zodiac has a 115-horsepower Yamaha outboard engine.
The $14,000 conversion gave the sheriff’s office an almost-new patrol boat at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one.
Marine Patrol also employs a refurbished 1986 Boston Whaler with a 150-horsepower Evinrude motor for patrolling Clallam County lakes and occasionally the Strait. The boat was stripped down to its hull and completely rebuilt last year.
An equipment grant from Washington State Parks covered $8,800 of the $28,000 refurbishing cost. A new boat would have cost nearly $50,000, Edgington said.
In 2007, the sheriff’s office sold a 30-foot Shark Cat for $50,000.
“It really didn’t fit into my model,” Benedict said.
Marine Patrol loaned two other boats to the Clallam County Fire District No. 3 Swift Water Rescue program and the Lower Elwha Police Department.
The unit kept a 17-foot Alumaweld drift boat for patrols on the heavily-fished rivers of the county’s West End. Like the Zodiac, the refurbished drift boat was also acquired in a seizure.
During the winter months, the sheriff’s office and Washington State Fish and Wildlife share storage costs by renting a centrally located hangar in Clallam County to keep their boats indoors.
“One thing I’m very proud of is the boating safety unit made well over 3,000 contacts last year, and they were all positive, good contacts,” said Benedict, who went through the boating safety academy with Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman about 12 years ago.
Clallam County’s boating season starts in February with the Discovery Bay Fishing Derby and ends in October with the close of the salmon season.
During the 1,000 on-water inspections they made in 2009, the unit members checked for safety equipment, fishing violations, signs of “boating under the influence” of drugs or alcohol and monitored for cross-border traffic from Canada.
Clallam County’s Marine Patrol Unit won the Most Improved award nine years ago, Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron said.
Now it has come full circle.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladaily news.com.