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Boaters who feel the need for speed might want to take it a little easy on the gas this summer.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources will be patrolling on 24 personal watercraft this summer. Unlike the big boats that scream DNR with their large decals and signs, the Polaris machines give officers the advantage of surprise, said Capt. Sam Purvis, the DNR's outdoor education officer.
'It will be hard to tell who we are, ' he said. 'We can check more people for boating while intoxicated in a shorter amount of time than in the regular patrol boats.'
But there's more to the detail than springing sneak attacks. Purvis said the personal watercraft will allow conservation officers to get into trouble spots and shallow areas much quicker, making rescue efforts easier.
The personal watercraft cost between $6,000 and $6,500, and federal funds were used to buy them, Purvis said. Each of the state's 10 districts will get two of the machines, and they can be used wherever officers think they're needed most, said Major Larry Rhinehart, the DNR's boating law administrator.
The other four machines will be used as replacements when repairs are needed, he said. Officers went through a training course this week at Lake Wawasee.
The traditional patrols in the bigger DNR boats will continue. But the new program is needed to get a handle on the growing number of personal watercraft on Indiana lakes, Rhinehart said.
Of the 200,000 boats registered in Indiana, 13,000 are personal watercraft, he said. But those 13,000 accounted for about 45 percent of the boating accidents in the state, he said.
'That's why we have developed this force of personal watercraft to go out there and attempt to slow down some of the activity that creates these accidents,' Rhinehart said.
'We just want to make it safer for everybody out there,' he said. 'We've killed 15 to 20 people a year on Indiana waters in boating accidents. We want that down to zero.'
Rhinehart likened the personal watercraft patrols to Indiana State Police troopers who patrol the highways in sporty, unmarked Camaros. He hopes the personal watercraft will be just as effective in making people think twice about how they're driving.
'Just like the State Police and their Camaros, they're going to be on you before you know it,' he said.
'The unmarked sport-type vehicles on the highway have slowed down quite a few people that normally would be looking for the marked police cars,' Rhinehart said. 'I think the same thing will happen with the personal watercraft on the water for us.'
