Douglas County patrol boat sinks
Douglas County needs a new boat after this one sank while moored at Zephyr Cove Marina. Photo/LTN file
A second patrol boat at Lake Tahoe sank this season.
This time is was Douglas County Sheriff’s Department that lost a vessel earlier this month. In May, it was a Washoe County sheriff’s boat that sank.
“Our boat sank due to structural deficiencies in the hull. It has undergone multiple repairs and is simply too old for the rigors of service on Tahoe,” Douglas County Undersheriff Paul Howell told Lake Tahoe News.
It had been moored at Zephyr Cove Marina.
The department is going to use a boat from Nevada Department of Wildlife for the rest of the summer.
“We anticipate the purchase, build, and delivery of a new boat by January,” Howell said. It will cost between $200,000 and $300,000.
Because of the age and condition of the boat the department was already in the process of buying a new one. The deadline for request for proposals is July 14.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Not like we need another patrol boat on the lake.
The more boats the better. You never know which one will be close enough to help someone in need and save a life.
So why did the “structurally deficient” boat deploy at all? Putting those aboard, and those that they might help at further risk?
For “? says”, if you spend much time on the LTN forum you realize that public services are now seen as “fat cats,” a designation that the actual “fat cats” can and do encourage and sometimes financially support, on the theory that money not spent for public needs will eventually trickle down to them.
The nasty little secret is that local law enforcement agencies are no longer getting applications from qualified candidates – retired LAPD cops and folks who’ve spent the last year in private security grabbing shoplifters or illegal parkers, are not ideal candidates for local law enforcement careers.
No one from any of the local law enforcement agencies is going to stand up and say in public that their recent hires are sub-marginal. But anyone close to the situation knows that local law enforcement competency is declining, almost entirely because of their inability to attract good candidates. Or even replace a damn outdated boat.
2-3 hundred thousand for a small patrol boat? no wonder gov’t is always out of money.
“Structural deficiencies’ is Government speak for ‘It leaked’