Cops' holiday weekend focus: BWI incidents

Going into one of the year's two biggest boating weekends, maritime enforcement agencies say they will be out in force to try to ensure that boating-while-intoxicated numbers remain in check.

Several factors have combined to hold down the number of BWI incidents, officials say. These include enforcement, high-profile accidents, public education efforts, and the lagging economy and steep fuel prices that have kept more vessels at the dock. BWI arrests by Nassau and Suffolk County police have averaged about 10 annually, combined, over the past five years.

Nassau and Suffolk police boats and Hempstead bay constables will be making targeted BWI patrols, and Islip plans floating sobriety checkpoints.

"I think people are getting the message, especially younger people," said Vincent Pica of Westhampton, Coast Guard Auxiliary chief of staff for eastern New York, Connecticut and northern New Jersey.

Nassau Police Sgt. Gregg Magnifico of the Marine Bureau said "with all the media campaigns, people are less likely" to drink and operate a boat. "We see now that people have designated drivers while they're boating."

He added that enforcement is a good deterrent. The department has a dedicated BWI enforcement boat with "Stop BWI" emblazoned on its sides. "When people see the 'Stop BWI' and Nassau County Police, it sends a message," Magnifico said.

Another deterrent, marine enforcement officials agree, is highly publicized BWI cases such as one two years ago off Seaford where the owner of a high-performance speedboat who was legally drunk ran into an island, killing himself, his wife and a friend, and critically injuring four others.

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High fuel prices and the poor economy, which have forced some owners to sell boats or use them closer to home, have helped reduce BWI incidents, officials said.

"A lot of people aren't going away on vacation," Magnifico said. "They're spending more time on their boats -- more time on their boats at the dock. So they're doing their partying there and they're not going to be a BWI."

Nationally, from 2006 to 2010, accidents attributed to BWI went from 403 to 395. Deaths went from 148 to 154. And injuries from 366 to 344. In New York State, the number of accidents went from 24 to 22. Deaths were 4 to 4 and injuries 27 to 21.

Keeping the BWI statistics from increasing isn't good enough, says the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators. "Alcohol is still the leading contributor to fatal boating accidents, so it's still a problem," said association deputy director Ron Sarver.

That's why the group sponsors an annual enforcement and education push -- Operation Dry Water -- by marine agencies on the weekend before the Fourth of July. This year 313 participated including the Coast Guard, the state parks and environmental conservation agencies, Nassau police, Suffolk County sheriff's office, and Southold and Asharoken police on Long Island. Coast Guard crews from Eatons Neck and Jones Beach each made an arrest.

"The message to the boaters," Sarver said, "is that alcohol and water and a boat don't mix."