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As Labor Day weekend begins, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office is ramping up enforcement on local waterways to ensure safety amid crowded conditions and warm weather.Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Nofziger was patrolling parts of the Sacramento River and American River on Saturday. “There’s just a lot of fast boats out here right now. A lot of people that are drinking. The weather’s hot. They’re trying to stay cool,” he said. He said a lot of his day consisted of educational stops and informing people about the rules on the water. “We’re stopping boaters that are either speeding in areas they’re not supposed to be going over five miles an hour — the no wake zones, between the bridges in Old Sac — if they’re doing anything reckless, or if they don’t have current tags on their boat,” he said. “A lot of times, we can just spread educational awareness and give them warnings.”He said a big focus this weekend is boater cards, which are required for anyone driving a boat or jet ski in the state. “So, all that is just an online course. You register and take the classes and you get a card in the mail. And really what it does is just explains a lot of the boating rules, regulations, so that everyone’s kind of on the same page,” Nofziger said.He said they did hand out one citation Saturday to a boater who did not have a boater card. “Something we ran into today was a boater who was having mechanical issues on his boat and claimed that the reason why he chose to drive at us, instead of around or away from us like normal boaters would have done, was because his boat was having some mechanical problems. That boater did not have a boater card, so he ended up getting a citation for that,” Nofziger said. He emphasized that he wants people to enjoy the weekend, but to do so safely. “Make sure your boat’s running good before you get out in the water and start drifting away. Make sure everyone has life jackets and get your boater safety card. It’s important. And just be safe. Have fun, but be safe,” Nofziger said.The sheriff’s office will have more crews spread throughout the county for the rest of the weekend.
As Labor Day weekend begins, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office is ramping up enforcement on local waterways to ensure safety amid crowded conditions and warm weather.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Nofziger was patrolling parts of the Sacramento River and American River on Saturday.
“There’s just a lot of fast boats out here right now. A lot of people that are drinking. The weather’s hot. They’re trying to stay cool,” he said.
He said a lot of his day consisted of educational stops and informing people about the rules on the water.
“We’re stopping boaters that are either speeding in areas they’re not supposed to be going over five miles an hour — the no wake zones, between the bridges in Old Sac — if they’re doing anything reckless, or if they don’t have current tags on their boat,” he said. “A lot of times, we can just spread educational awareness and give them warnings.”
He said a big focus this weekend is boater cards, which are required for anyone driving a boat or jet ski in the state.
“So, all that is just an online course. You register and take the classes and you get a card in the mail. And really what it does is just explains a lot of the boating rules, regulations, so that everyone’s kind of on the same page,” Nofziger said.
He said they did hand out one citation Saturday to a boater who did not have a boater card.
“Something we ran into today was a boater who was having mechanical issues on his boat and claimed that the reason why he chose to drive at us, instead of around or away from us like normal boaters would have done, was because his boat was having some mechanical problems. That boater did not have a boater card, so he ended up getting a citation for that,” Nofziger said.
He emphasized that he wants people to enjoy the weekend, but to do so safely.
“Make sure your boat’s running good before you get out in the water and start drifting away. Make sure everyone has life jackets and get your boater safety card. It’s important. And just be safe. Have fun, but be safe,” Nofziger said.
The sheriff’s office will have more crews spread throughout the county for the rest of the weekend.
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