MPR: DNR cracks down on BWI

DNR cracks down on BWI
By Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
July 2, 2001

A crackdown on drunk boaters in Minnesota lake country last summer caused some residents to cheer and others to angrily complain about harassment and a threat to vacation business.

DNR conservation officer Norm Flodeen says the fun part of his job is cruising around a lake, chatting with anglers, checking fishing licenses and issuing a few lectures on the need to wear life jackets. After sunset, the work becomes a bit more intense. See more images.

THERE'S A CHILL IN THE AIR, but the sun is still shining brightly as DNR conservation officer Norm Flodeen puts his patrol boat in the water just after dinner on a Friday evening. Flodeen says this is the fun part of his job; cruising around the lake, he chats with anglers, checks fishing licenses and issues a few lectures on the need to wear life jackets.

A few hours later, after sunset, the work becomes a bit more intense. "When we're running across the lake, if somebody's out here without lights, are we going to hit them?" Flodeen says as he points out the dangers on the water.

Flodeen says it's surprising how often boaters forget to turn on their navigation lights. That may just be carelessness, or a sign of an intoxicated boater.

As he slows to check traffic from a marina along the waterfront in Detroit Lakes, Flodeen spots a boat that appears to have no stern light. Turning on his red flasher, he approaches the pontoon boat.

Theres a strong odor of alcohol in the air, and the driver seems confused as he answers questions. Flodeen asks him to perform a field sobriety test. After failing two additional tests, the man is asked to submit to a breath test. (Listen to the scene)

The driver blows .16, well above the point .10 blood-alcohol level for legal intoxication.

As Officer Flodeen tows the boat to a dock in the nearby marina, the boaters try to plea bargain. "Give him a break," a woman pleads. "I've been here for 25 years doing the same thing," a man says.

By the time the boat is docked, claims of harassment and threats of lawsuits are being flung at the officer.

A state trooper arrives to take the man to jail and Norm Flodeen heads his boat across the lake to where his truck is parked. This is the second intoxicated boater taken off this lake tonight.

The number of BWI arrests in Minnesota is declining, there were 110 last year, compared to a high of 222 in 1990. But Officer Norm Flodeen says it's likely only a small percentage of intoxicated boaters are caught, and many people still simply don't see anything wrong with drinking while driving a boat.

"In a boat it's OK, in a car it's not. People haven't gotten to the point where they equate the two," he says.

Stepped up BWI enforcement in this area last summer caused an uproar when some local residents claimed the DNR was damaging the image of this tourism mecca. Flodeen says since the dispute, boaters are more belligerent.

"If people think they're in the right, and they think public opinion is on their side, we become the bad guy and it's more difficult for us to get done what we need to get done," Flodeen says.

Flodeen says consuming alcohol in a boat is perfectly legal, as long as the operator is sober. Statistics show alcohol is a factor in about one-third of boating fatalities in Minnesota. "Your inhibitions get reduced so you don't make good decisions. Then you add to that poor reaction, slow reaction time. It also affects vision, hearing and other senses, so you put all those things together you can see where the risk comes from."

Norm Flodeen says he'll take the abuse that comes with arresting an intoxicated boater, if the public awareness it generates helps him avoid the grim task of pulling a dead body from the water.

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