Chesapeake patrol works to target drunken boaters

CHESAPEAKE

The clues for spotting a drunken boater are the same: the slurred speech, the bloodshot eyes, and of course the smell of alcohol.

But for Mitchell Beatley, a state conservation police officer who's been at it for 24 years, the tip off could be as subtle as a boat cruising too close to a pier or passing another boat just a little too fast.

"It's hard to explain, but you know it when you see it," Beatley said Sunday from the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.

Beatley and his agency, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, were a part of Operation Dry Water, a national, weekend-long enforcement initiative meant to reduce the number of alcohol-related accidents and deaths.

On Saturday, Beatley arrested one boater on a charge of operating under the influence. The state conservation officer, one of three patrolling South Hampton Roads waterways, said he has made as many as six such arrests in a single summer.

Most citations he issues are for boat registration issues or safety equipment violations, such as not having life jackets or a fire extinguisher.

On Sunday, all was quiet on the Elizabeth River's Southern Branch as Beatley steered his 1995 Boston Whaler under the Dominion Boulevard Steel Bridge. About the only action came with a few boats going too fast in no-wake zones.

"Sorry," said one man, holding up his hand after Beatley flipped on a siren and asked him to slow down.

"People aren't always happy to see us because this is their leisure time," Beatley said. "We're interrupting their day off."

But it's all in the name of safety, he said. Beatley was happy to report that he has seen an increasing number of "designated operators" who stay sober enough to steer. "We really like to see that," he said.

With the Fourth of July and Norfolk Harborfest, the coming weekend could be the summer's busiest for Beatley and other city marine patrol officers. Especially when the fireworks are over. "It can be daunting," he said. "A lot of people trying to get home as fast as they can, in the dark."

Beatley's ultimate goal is to prevent boating injuries and deaths. One of his most difficult cases was that of Kurt Jon Riffey, a Chesapeake man convicted of boating under the influence in a fatal accident last year on the Southern Branch.

"It's one that you wish you were there to prevent," Beatley said. "You can't stop all of them."

Mike Saewitz, (757) 222-5207, mike.saewitz@pilotonline.com