Sheriff’s office launches new boat
Berl Tiskus
Sergeant Glenn Miller drives the new Lake County Sheriff’s Office boat on Flathead Lake during training.
Berl Tiskus
Steering the new boat, Deputy Nate Lundeen checks out an approaching jet ski to make sure both driver and passenger are wearing life vests.
Berl Tiskus
The Forward Looking Infrared System uses thermal imaging so deputies can use it at night. Even in the daytime, warm items, such as people, show up on the screen.
Berl Tiskus
Deputy Becky McClintock drives the older Lake County Sheriff’s Office rescue boat.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
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POLSON — Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, and almost two-thirds of the lake is patrolled by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
With 15 years of law enforcement experience, Sergeant Glenn Miller heads up the Marine Enforcement Division. He understands being out on the lake all day patrolling and then being called again as he’s headed home, Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin said.
In 2012 the LCSO received nearly 200 calls on Flathead Lake. Answering those calls and patrolling in the department’s 20-year-old boat resulted in the boat spending lots of time in the shop.
LCSO Deputy Nate Lundeen also works boat patrol, and this summer Becky McClintock, who intended to retire, also will be working on the lake. Miller and Lundeen recently returned from an 80-hour Marine Enforcement school in Idaho.
In addition to this training and to add to the LSCO presence on the water, this summer they have a new boat — a Munson Landing Craft boat to augment their other boat.
“It’s not an option for us not to have the capability to go out on the lake,” Yonkin said.
The LCSO budgeted their money from the law enforcement levy and saved for the new boat. The department purchased the $181,000 watercraft with no loan or additional financing and also replaced an aging patrol vehicle with a three-quarter ton pickup for $30,500 to safely tow the new boat.
Investing in a new boat was a big decision for Lake County Sheriff Jay Doyle. Eventually the department chose a Munson Boat from Burlington, Wash.
“Munson is world recognized for their quality and versatility in their Landing Craft boats,” Doyle said.
With twin 250 horsepower Honda engines, the Landing Craft style boat can be brought close to shoreline for rapid loading and unloading and also has a load arm. The entire bow of the boat can be lowered to become an access ramp. Since LCSO Deputies could be hauling an ATV out to assist in a search on an island, launching divers or loading and unloading residents evacuated due to a forest fire, that feature is useful.
The older boat has tubes on the sides, which made it hard for divers to enter the water, according to Miller. When the divers returned to the boat, they had to be pulled into the boat since there was no other way for them to load. The new Munson’s bow can be lowered into the water and also has an attached ladder so divers can climb into the boat.
The load boom would have been especially helpful this spring when Lundeen had to go “manhandle” two partially submerged paddleboats from Flathead Lake.
The boat has an on-board Forward Looking Infra Red system, which allows deputies to see in the dark using thermal imaging, Yonkin explained. The boat is also equipped with a radar system to help locate other watercraft and navigate at night and through fog.
The new boat has had its maiden voyage on Flathead Lake and answered a few calls, but summer boating is just getting started.
The weekend of June 28 to June 30 was designated Operation Drywall on Flathead Lake. That means law enforcement had “zero tolerance” for DUIs, for not wearing life jackets and for wakeboarding and water skiing without a spotter.
“Seventy-three percent of all drownings are because of no life jacket so wear your lifejacket,” Miller said.
Operation Drywall, a nationwide effort incorporating all 50 states and territories and the Coast Guard, will prepare boaters for the Fourth of July weekend.
After Operation Drywall, LCSO deputies on the lake will be making sure boaters are wearing their life jackets, there is a fire extinguisher on each watercraft, each boat has the correct stickers and is not over maximum capacity and each boat has a whistle or noise-making device.
As well as helping out boaters in trouble and checking boats, the deputies pull “deadheads” or partially sunken or floating trees and trash from the water. They also cruise by islands and do foot patrols on some, particularly Cedar Island, where fires are not allowed.
So if you see the LCSO boat on the lake, give them a friendly wave. The deputies are there to help.
