United States Coast Guard Maritime law enforcement seizure of boats, weapons, and contraband - Research Paper Example

? Running head: U.S. COAST GUARD MARITIME LAW United s Coast Guard Maritime law enforcement seizure of boats, weapons, and contraband [Course] [Professor’s name] [Date] Abstract The Unites States Coast Guard is the principal force for ensuring that the maritime laws are enforced over the seas and oceans on which the country has a right. It is the primary force responsible for the prevention of drug import through water and together with the United States Customs Service for the prevention of trafficking through the air. The paper reflects the role of the Coast Guard of US which enquires, inspects and searches the waters for the violators of United States maritime laws including traffickers of drugs, arms and to prevent illegal human migration. Introduction The United States have entered into a number of counter-narcotics agreements with different countries. In total there are 25 countries which have a law enforcing agreement including 3 countries that entered into the agreement after the completion of military installation in the Panama Canal in 2000. The countries include many of the Latin American countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela etc. The agreements are based on a number of clauses and allow the coast guards different degree of freedom to enforce the maritime counter-narcotics laws of the United States. According to the ship-boarding provisions the authorities of United States can take quick permission from the other countries for the coast guards to search a vessel for illegal trafficking. In some cases no permission are required from the respective countries to board and search the vessel. Most of the countries except El Salvador, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba and Turks and Caicos have this agreement with the United States. According to the ship-rider provision the coast guards can position officers on the vessels of the countries. Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Venezuela are the only countries that do not have an agreement of ship-riding with the United States. Pursuit provision has given the Coast Guards the ability to chase a vessel or aircraft into the territories of different country or search their vessel in the absence of available vessel or aircrafts of the country. All the countries have agreed on this provision except for Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Turks and Caicos and Venezuela (United States Government Accountability Office, 2005, pp. 39-40). Role of Coast Guard Coast Guard is one of the premier forces for the enforcement of laws and has a high number of arrests and seizures each year (Roach, Smith, 1996, p. 491). The following table shows the removal statistics of Coast Guard Drug removal (year wise) in pounds United States Coast Guard, 2011 Narcotics One of the major duties of the United States coast guard is to identify and interdict the drugs smuggled through water mainly by the small sea vessels. Near the coastal areas the coast guards ensure the enforcement of drug laws in collaboration with the United States Customs Service. Further away into the ocean the US coast guards are the primary force responsible for enduring the drug laws. The major regions of duty of the force rest in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and in the region of South Florida. In the former two areas the force looks out for mother ships that transfer their cargo to the smaller boats which carry it to the coasts. Apart from the drugs the other items of marine trafficking are arms and illegal human transport. The United States coast guards also carry out regular missions to prevent these kinds of trafficking. The force also ensures that the United States marine reserves like fisheries and other reserves are protected from the outsiders. Often the vessels of transport are seized by the force (Kash, Cross, 1987, 34-35; University of Virginia). In 1994, 28 vessels were seized by the United States Coast Guards which is a sharp decline from the previous year’s trends. Most of these vessels were carrying large amount of drugs like marijuana, cocaine, hashish, Thai sticks and other dangerous drugs. According to estimates the value of the contraband in the streets was $1,241, 44. The volume of marijuana seized by the force was of 33,895.00 pounds and for cocaine it was 47,333.00 pounds. Similarly high amount hashish and hashish oils were seized. The coast guard also made a large number of arrests of the traffickers and the illegal migrants during this period (Maguire, 1996, p.442). The cocaine removal rate of the US Coastal Guard has been consistent and the above table (with reduction in seizures over the last couple of years) is an evidence of the performance of the force regarding enforcement of anti narcotic laws (Drug Budget, 2011). In 2007 and 2008 drug seizures reached a high level. The efforts of the agencies and international prohibition rules have compelled the smugglers to apply some innovative methods and ways in order to avoid such seizures. In September a vessel with 3600 gallons of cocaine submerged in diesel fuel in order to escape discovery. In this manner the Coast Guard has attempted to apply fuel neutralization to these support vessels such that they cannot use or transfer the extra fuel. Hence the law enforcement body of Coast Guard has attempted to form partnerships with 26 Caribbean and South American countries in order to prevent illegal smuggling activities.(U.S. Coast Guard, 2007) Illegal Immigration The United States Coast Guards are also very active in the prevention of illegal immigration from the other countries. Very frequently the people from other countries who are denied an access to the country try to enter the country through boats. These immigration trips are usually carried out by gangs operating out of the source country as well as United States. These journeys are often unsafe through troubled waters and the boats are usually overcrowded. The people try to enter the United States in search of income. The coast guards are responsible for the seizure of such boats. There have been many cases of such interceptions by the coast guards. In the usual case the coast guards take the passengers into custody, give them short term healthcare and return them to their respective countries. Fisheries United States have a huge natural reserve of marine resources. One such rich source is that of fisheries off the coasts of the country. The country has 3.4 million sq. miles of ocean under their jurisdiction and almost 90,000 miles of coastal area. The fish in the coastal regions of the country is an important source of food for the citizen of the country as well as an important item of export. Moreover these fishes help to maintain the marine ecosystem of the region. However over-fishing have often put the reserve at stake giving rise to adverse economic and environmental consequences. There are several federal and international laws that regulates the fishing in these regions. The Coastal play an important role in the seizure of foreign vessels as well as domestic vessels that are responsible for over-fishing or for fishing the protected species. The major source of threat to the countries reserve of fish is the illegal Mexican fisherman and their small boars. In 2010 the number of illegal fisherman in the US territorial water increased drastically. The United States Coastal Guards patrols the area in search of such illegal fishermen and often seize their boats (DiRenzo, 2011, 92-96). In this way they help to enforce the illegal fishing laws and the protection of marine ecosystem. Apart from these, the United States Coastal Guards are responsible for the enforcement of various other laws like the pollution laws or the boat safety laws (Krietemeyer, 2000, 412-414). Process of seizures Sec. 89 Law Enforcement gives the Coast Guards the right to enquire, examine, inspect, seize or arrest the vessels or persons who have violated the laws of the country in the marine regions. For this purpose the officials of the force are allowed to board a vessel, inspect the papers, search and use coercive methods that are required to perform their duty. During such examinations if the vessel or the people try to escape, the coastal guards have to chase and arrest the guilty or take other actions. In view of this law the work done by the United States Coastal Guards have been widely appreciated. The seizure operations of the country occur in three different ways. Sometimes the vessels are seized incidentally in the course of some other mission. For example in the course of a rescue mission the vessel may turn out to be illegal and hence seized. The second type of seizure occurs as a result of some tip off where the force knows the exact location of illegal vessel, contraband, drug or weapon. These types of missions have turned out to be extremely successful and the force has tried to develop their own intelligence system to increase the number of such missions. But the most prevalent type of seizure occurs through patrol operation where the vessels are intercepted and searched. In this way the US Coastal Guards have helped to maintain the marine laws of the United States. Conclusion The country takes a no tolerance stance towards the trafficking of drug. In the last decade the country has particularly targeted the trafficking of illegal marijuana and cocaine from the bordering countries especially the Latin American countries. Accordingly targets are set to seize the illegal drugs. The US coastal guards have had an overwhelming success in seizure of such drugs as given by their cocaine removal rate targets each year and also by the absolute amount of drugs rescued. Moreover the illegal immigrants from the various parts of the world have posed a threat for the country in terms of terrorism as well as the economic well being of the citizen. The policy of the US coastal Guards regarding these immigrants have helped the country to tackle the problem of immigration before they enter the country and save the trouble of identifying ad deporting them after they enter the country. Similarly the US Coastal Guards also helps the country to protect their reserve of fisheries from illegal fishing. References 1. DiRenzo III, J. (2011), US Coast Guard in Review, US Naval Institute in Proceeding, 137(5), 92-96. 2. Drug Budget (2010), US Department for Homeland Security, Retrieved on June 30, 2011, from: http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_11-35_Jan11.pdf 3. Kash, D. & G.L. Cross (1987), The Border War on Drugs, DIANE Publishing. 4. Krietemeyer, G.E. (2000), The Coast guardsman’s Manual, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 5. Maguire, K. (1996), Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1995, DIANE Publishing. 6. Nordquit, M.H. Moore, J. N. & K. Fu (2006), Recent Developments in the law of the sea and China Volume 2005, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 7. Roach, A. J. & R. W. Smith (1996), United States responses to Excessive maritime claims, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 8. United States Government Accountability Office (2005), Drug Control: Agencies need to plan for likely declines in drug interdiction assets and develop better performance measures for transit zone operations: report to congressional committees, DIANE Publishing. 9. United States Coast Guard (2007) Coast Guard Announces Record Drug Seizures, retrieved on July 1, 2011 from: http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/786/184995/ 10. United States Coast Guard (2011) Office of Law Enforcement, retrieved on June 30, 2011 from: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg531/Drugs/stats.asp Read More