Boaters not respecting the speed limit and those not making way for Great Lakes freighters are two of the bigger issues the Windsor Police Marine Unit is dealing with on the Detroit River.
In 2024, officers with the marine unit performed 137 vessel stops, a 24.5 per cent increase over 2023.
There were 108 enforcement actions, a 25.5 per cent increase over 2023, while 77 safety inspections were also performed, a 156 per cent increase over 2023.
Windsor Police Marine Unit Constable Jay Lemiere points to more new boaters being on the water in recent years as one reason for the increases.
Lemiere says a lot of the enforcement actions in 2024 had to do with speeding and boaters not respecting or knowing about the '10-30 rule,' which requires that a vessel only travel at 10 km/h within 30 meters of shore to reduce waves that can cause shoreline damage.
"Then there are a couple of other speed zones in our area; one is in LaSalle near Fighting Island, and then the other is between Windsor and Peche Island. There's a speed zone there as well. So there are a lot of different infractions with that that go hand-in-hand with the speed limits," he says.
Lemiere says another issue they've dealt with involves people on personal watercrafts or Sea-Doos going by and splashing boats or people standing along the shoreline.
"We get a lot of pictures and videos of those, and with cameras and phones nowadays with good cameras, we can see who's driving the boat and the bow number, which gives us license information. With a little digging and investigation, we can figure out who it was," he says.
The Windsor Police Marine Unit patrols the Detroit River from Amherstburg all the way to the border between Tecumseh and Windsor along the St. Clair River.
With the 2025 boating season now underway, Constable Lemiere says they are already seeing a lot of boats and anglers out on the water, but some are not getting out of the way for the Great Lakes freighters.
"A lot of the fishermen are waiting until the very last minute because they believe they can get out of the way in a timely manner, but the captains of the freighters don't know that," he says. "We've been seeing a lot of freighters, a lot of captains sending pictures and videos of different boaters out there. Charges have been laid later on because we're able to see the bow numbers of the fishing boats out there and not getting out of the way."
The Windsor Police Marine Unit will be hosting a safety inspection day at Lakeview Marina on Sunday, May 18, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Officers will conduct free safety inspections and go through the checklist with boaters.
Fines for those on the water who fail a safety inspection can be in the range of $200 per infraction if they're missing items such as life jackets, a sound signalling device such as a whistle, a watertight flashlight, etc.
Click here to find safety information and requirements laid out by Transport Canada's Safe Boating Guide.