Police Watching For Drinking and Boating

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If you’re headed to the lake this weekend, you might see more police officers than usual.

Operation Dry Water kicks off in Minnesota this weekend and law enforcement will be actively looking to stop drinking and boating.

It’s a beautiful day in Detroit Lakes and boaters are taking advantage.

“Enjoying beautiful days like today is one of the reasons we live here,” says Detroit Lakes resident Heather Bridgeman.

Although the lake was pretty much empty this morning, it didn’t stay that way for long.

“We think about not only people on our boat or the driver not drinking but also we have to worry about boaters being out there,” Bridgeman explains.

Last year, nearly half of the 14 boating deaths in Minnesota involved alcohol.

But this year, law enforcement is taking a stand with Operation Dry Water.

“If we have one person out there not following the rules it affects everybody on the water,” says Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander.

“We look for a number of things mostly safety things, life jackets, if there’s careless boating, things like that. We try to pay attention to those kinds of things,” says Becker County Boat and Water Deputy Adam Douglas.

Police say that although many people might not compare the two, drinking and boating is just as serious as drinking and driving.

“In both cases lives are at risk and if not lives then serious injury,” Glander says.

Like driving a car, a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher is illegal. And impaired boaters can be fined and serve jail time.

“We always make sure that whoever is going to be driving is not drinking. Usually if the kids are with we don’t have drinks with us at all. But if we do or we’re out with friends we make sure that we do have one sober person and make sure that they’re driving,” says Bridgeman.

So if you’re headed to the lake…

“Have fun and have a sober driver. That’s what we want,” says Douglas.

Operation Dry Water is only for this weekend but police say they will have extra patrolling for the Fourth of July weekend as well.