Cypress Trees n Police Boats

[TPD211]

Ok, I convinced my boss to let me take the police boat out to look for evidence of Cypress trees being cut down by folks building docks on one of the lakes in our jurisdiction.<br />We have a 20 foot something that was given to us by the local sheriff's office. It has a 200 HP Yamaha on it even though it is rated for a 150 HP or so motor. Our shop built up the transom with what looks like 1/4" aluminum plate on both sides. Another detective acted as Captain while I took photographs of the shoreline. There was no evidence that any Cypress trees had been cut down, felony charge in the State of Florida. <br />The boat topped out at 59 mph on the speedo. <br />As a side note, I'm in charge of obtaining military surplus equipment for the police department, I came across (4) 200 HP Yamaha motors for 50 bucks each that are at Homestead, FL. Dont know what kind of shape they are in but one could be used for spare parts. Sometimes we get good stuff and sometimes we get crap military surplus. <br />Regards from sunny Florida.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

OK, TPD211, I’ll bite. If you do get a picture of a cut down cypress tree, what do you do with it? Unless the guy is standing there doing the cutting, all you could ever show is that a tree what cut down, not who did it. Or did I miss some other objective of the PD?

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

Oops! Forgot…bingo on the military surplus. Sometimes a bargin, sometimes crap…often crap. The mother of all pontoon’s (40ft x 80ft) just sold for 1-cent on the dollar, about $2500 for a $250,000 boat. Even I could have made that work.

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

will pay $250 as is <br />ps. overpowered by 50hp could be a little hairy<br />in the wrong set-up, but assume they know the hull<br />can handle it and know more than coast gaurd in<br />this instance...don't even have to worry about<br />a ticket<br />one beni being a cop... fast toys <br />raced a 2000? u-cover crown vic that was just<br />de-comishioned, avg. low end torque, but still<br />had some thrust left on the high end (100mph).<br />MY northstar 4.9L had a good lead, but got beat<br />bad in long run.

 

[TPD211]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

18rabbit,<br />Ok, I find a tree has been cut, I'll check with homeowner, who probably didnt cut it, and find out the guys building his deck cut it cause he wanted the dock in that exact spot. Easy case to investigate and get a conviction because some one will know who cut down the tree. I'll get statements and question the bad guy and get a confession. The homeowners are mostly afluent retirees and have their docks built. <br />I'm glad I didnt find any cut trees.<br />I got some F-9 Nikons without lenses for 50 bucks each. I got 2 Nikon F-3's with winders for 25 bucks each. These were in 9+ condition. 1 was bad as it had been dropped in salt water. No lenses or flashes with them <br />I got a Sony CD-R Camera for 25 bucks, all it needed was a battery.<br />We got M-16's for 100 each. All police departments can get this. One is a XM-16 with a 5 digit serial number. That one is from the 1960's I bet.<br />I got 4 older PII-300 laptops for 50 bucks each. We bought batteries for them and installed them in our patrol cars for the road guys to use. <br /><br />Mellowyellow, check this out, we have a Mustang we use for traffic enforcement. <br /> Police Mustang <br /><br />Were thinking of getting the new Mustang to supplement this car. <br /> NEW MUSTANG CONCEPT CAR <br /><br />

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

I know that for every tree in the world, the same 10 people love it…and they seem to have a lot of political influence. So I asked before I cut the tree in the backyard. City said “no, that tree is loved by the same 10 people.” And if I want to cut it down anyway, it is a $10,000.00 fine. I guess that tree is really loved. I am told I can ‘negotiate” with the city, “if you let me cut down this tree, I will plant two of these trees and donate two more to the city.” When I was young it was called extortion, but I guess it “depends on what your meaning of ‘is’ is.”<br /><br />That TPD Mustang is pretty nice, but I don’t think it’s going to float for very long.

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

I caught that 50Hp overpower, too. Boat is over 20ft, so it doesn't apply. The tag is more of a guideline.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

Fwiw, our boat didn’t come with a cert label. It is a military craft built to mil spec, exempted from everything. We are not the military so I inquired of my local USCG about the missing cert label. They said it doesn’t matter. Regardless of what any tag would says about passenger limit, weight limit or hp limit, they look to see if the boat is “safe” with all passengers and cargo while under way. Engine hp limit is disregarded in favor of how the vessel is being operated. They consider the engine as cargo. Your local USCG may have a different agenda.

 

[TPD211]

Re: Cypress Trees n Police Boats

18rabbit,<br /><br />Cypress trees are protected in Florida. Most cities or counties have a ordinance that requires a permit for cutting down trees on ones own property. The exception in my jurisdiction is that trees 6" in diameter or smaller do not require a permit. The permits are cost free, the city just wants to know if mass amounts of trees are being cut down in the city. It has something to do with grants from the federal and state level. Residential lots have a requirement of at least 3 trees being planted on them, mobile home lots get by with 2 trees.