MONROE COUNTY — Officers from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office marine division will take to the water this Fourth of July weekend to keep swimmers and boaters safe.
Monroe County Sheriff Assistant Jail Administrator Lt. Chad Cupp and jail Sgt. Sean Romstradt took reporters from the Monroe News out on the water this week to show them the busiest spots on their patrol route. The River Raisin, Ottawa River, Lake Erie near Luna Pier Beach and Sterling State Park Beach, the Sterling State Park boat launch area, Bolles Harbor, and the Woodtick Peninsula are the spots most watched by the marine division.
“Our primary goal is safety over enforcement, but enforcement to maintain safety,” Cupp said.
The officers patrol the area in their 34-foot SAFE boat, which is designed to be as stable as possible.
“We could theoretically close the cabin doors, all of them, and you could roll this boat over and it’ll right itself,” Cupp said. The one thing he bemoaned was the lack of air conditioning.
During the patrol with the reporters, the officers pulled over several boats for entering off-limits areas, such as the Fermi Nuclear Operations Center’s exclusion zone marked by buoys, and going too fast in no-wake zones.
The boater caught in the nuclear center’s exclusion zone entered by accident, not knowing where the boundaries were. The officers let him off with a warning; in fact, all three boat stops they made that day were let off with warnings rather than tickets. According to the officers, they believe in educating about safety more than giving tickets.
“Last thing we want is a call at two, three o’clock in the morning to get a body out of the water,” Romstradt explained.
The officers talked about the party spots on the water, including Woodtick Island, which has its own version of Lake St. Clair’s Jobbie Nooner with its annual Woodtick Island Fest on July 26. They also talked about a place they called the “hot hole,” which is a space where the DTE Energy Power Plant’s warm water discharge is poured into.
“If you want you can go on the back of the boat and stick your hand in the water,” Cupp said. “It’ll literally feel like bath water.”
When asked what his number one piece of advice for people would be over the weekend, Cupp said that it would be to wear their life jackets, even if they’re a good swimmer.
“Wear your life jacket and even if you fall in, you’ll come out safe,” he said.
— Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County Sheriff’s Office keeping swimmers and boaters safe Fourth of July weekend
Reporting by Connor Veenstra, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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