I have read alot about what the USCG does in law enforcement. Illegal fisheries, Drugs, safety violations, and Illegal immigration. But I am curious to what penalties these offenders recieve. How often does the USCG arrest and conduct warrent searches and so on?

Other than the CG agents, I am not sure I have ever heard of the USCG using a warrant. Usually there is either a nexus to the border or a CG4100 boarding form that gets you most of where you need to go...that or consent from the captain/owner.

I believe that most of the drug and alien cases are turned over to other agencies, ie: DEA, ICE, CBP, Border Patrol. Smaller drug cases may be declined by the AUSA and turned over to the State Attorney's office instead.

I'm not sure if the CG agents are working more and more on the agency's own prosectutions these days than in the past.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by 21yrsUSCGUSCS:
Other than the CG agents, I am not sure I have ever heard of the USCG using a warrant. Usually there is either a nexus to the border or a CG4100 boarding form that gets you most of where you need to go...that or consent from the captain/owner.

I believe that most of the drug and alien cases are turned over to other agencies, ie: DEA, ICE, CBP, Border Patrol. Smaller drug cases may be declined by the AUSA and turned over to the State Attorney's office instead.

I'm not sure if the CG agents are working more and more on the agency's own prosectutions these days than in the past.

Don

I am just curious, as I understand it USCG personel are Federal law enforcement agents after they go through the LE school in Georgia (correct me if I am wrong on location). I have read that this gives them the rights to arrest, search and seize, and warrents. So the fact that they have these abilities makes me wonder how often they use them. I am just very interested becuase I plan to join once I get my CJ degree. Le intrest me the most but I really enjoy the security aspect (I have been working in security for 6 years) and the first responder S&R aspect. I suppose I am simply young and want to see some action so to speak.

thanks
Shawn

Any Coast Guard Boarding Officer has the right to make arrests, searches and seizures. FYI, a CG BO has to be at least an E-4 Petty Officer and certified as a BO.

As far as the investigations to help the AUSA with the prosecutions, that is where I am not too sure of how much the CG agents get invovled with these days. I've been out of the CG for 20 yrs but worked closely with them during my 17 yrs with US Customs Marine Interdiction.

What usually occurred with the CG would be that they make a seizure and arrests, write up reports of what happened, then the case would be handled by agents of another agency who would work closely with the AUSA's (Assistant US Attornies).

You asked before about penalties. That can vary greatly on the AUSA, the judge, the juries and of course the amount of what was seized. In the past, I have made drug seizures where the captain was sentenced to anywhere from six years to 30+ in prison.

Alien smuggling...not too sure what they get these days. The heaviest sentences of course involve the cases where there is a fatality. An example is a case in the FL Keys where some guy smuggled a group of Cubans via speedboat. The seas were so rough and he ran so fast that he literally beat a woman to death with all the bouncing around she did in the bow of the boat coming across from Cuba.

Financial fines from violations noted on the CG4100 form (ex: no flares, not enough PFDs)...someone else may be able to give you some info on that area as I don't have an accurate idea to share.

Good luck with your future career should you decide to go into the Coast Guard.

Don

Coast Guard Investigative Service special agents attend the Criminal Investigator Training Program (as well as other courses) at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, GA. USCG Boarding Officers and boarding team members attend the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy at FLETC Charleston, SC.

The execution of search and arrest warrants is a CGIS role. As Don noted above, USCG inspection and border search authority generally gets a boarding team where they need to go. Boarding officers detain suspects who are turned over to the primary agency (DEA, ICE, CBP, locals, etc.). Varies by district and U.S. Attorneys Office.

As far as penalties, they range from civil fines and license/permit sanctions for fisheries and boating safety regs to prison for drugs and migrants. Migrant smugglers down in S. FL are getting years in prison.

I was hoping someone with updated info would jump in here and make sure I wasn't giving this guy outdated stuff.

Thanks Rich.

Don

Penalties can range from civil fines, termination of voyage, license sanctions, and criminal sanctions (fines, probation, prison). CG Boarding Officers are the patrol officers of the water and the areas that have a clear nexus to the water (facilities, marinas, launch ramps, etc). CG Special Agents handle the investigations and often serve as case agents (along the lines that civilian detectives would do in a local police department). I am not a Special Agent and therefore I am not going to speak about what they do or what they do not do. But, as a Boarding Officer, it is not necessarily what you are authorized to do, but more along the lines of what you are allowed to do by agency policy.

Make no bones about it, the LE penalties imposed by Coast Guard action are no slouch when compared to most state systems. Under patrol functions, the federal criminal justice system can not handle the high volume nor the relatively low level crimes that the Coast Guard is capable of bringing before it. I do not think that a U.S. Attorney is going to give the same amount of attention to a person charged for violating 46USC2302(C) (BUI) as they would for someone violating a federal drug trafficking statute (misdemeanor versus serious felony). The CG does investigate and make arrests for serious crimes. Cases are processed by the U.S. Attorneys office from which the Coast Guard was the arresting agency. The civil penalty process is used by the Coast Guard to enforce the laws and regulations that do not meet the threshold to be brought before the federal court system. The system is not perfect and probably does not meet the organizational needs of the Coast Guard in todays environment and culture. But, it is what we have to work with and it does work.

The above is just an overview of public information.

thanks for the information,

I have another question. I know that there is a huge post about conceal and carry. I dont really want to read it and I do not yet understand all the lingo. But do any of you guys carry off duty or are you allowed to. I would assume CGIS does but what about BO's.

thanks again

Man, I REALLY don't want to bring that peeing match into this discussion. Unfortunately, I did get caught up in that discussion.

Just my own opinion for what it's worth...if you want to carry, get a Concealed Carry Permit if your state allows it without a million hoops to jump through.

I think carrying concealed without a state permit thinking the Coast Guard is ready to say they will back you up should you get into an off-duty shooting may not end up so well for you...at least at this stage.

Don

...to toss in some 'penalty' data, even fisheries can get pretty rough. One case in particular I was involved in ended up in over $1 Million in actual fines and penalties that resulted in well over $7 Mill in losses. All that for (initial issue) fishing in Canadian waters, which attached Magnuson, then a whole butt load of issues centered around being a butt head.

I'll back that up as a guy who processes LMR (living marine resource...ie fisheries) violations. In some cases, such as negligent grounding in a national marine sanctuary, violators could be looking at a fine of as much as $130K (130,000) per day.

We (CGIS) had a local case in which a merchant mariner, whose license had expired, was offered a job drive a company's towboats. So he changed the date on his MML, presented it to to company, and started driving their boats.

Then he sunk one on Lake Michigan, both hazarded the crew and lost 250 of the approx. 3000 gallons of diesel on board.

We interviewed him, and turned the case over to the local US Attorney's Office.

Bottom line, he got 33 months in prison, $100 in court costs, and $750,000 in restitution to the towboat company whose boat he sank.

We (CGIS) serve penalty assessment letters to subjects from 4100 boardings. The Hearing Officer offers the offenders a fine, and they can accept it or contest it. Most of these fines are $1000 or more.

quote:

I have another question. I know that there is a huge post about conceal and carry. I dont really want to read it and I do not yet understand all the lingo. But do any of you guys carry off duty or are you allowed to. I would assume CGIS does but what about BO's.

By policy, CGIS can carry our issued firearms off-duty.

By policy, CGIS agents are the only CG members who carry concealed on or off duty.

Any other Coasties carrying concealed off-duty should only be doing so under an individual state's CCW permit laws.

The CG is coming out with a policy regarding LEOSA. I was told it is working it's way up the signature chain.