DHS seizes boat because owner won't lie

[hblask]

The story

[SVNeko]

"... Then she seized the boat. As in, demanded that we get off the boat, demanded the keys and took physical control of it.
What struck me the most about the situation is how excited she got about seizing the boat. Like she was just itching for something like this to happen. This was a very happy day for her.
So now I have to hire a lawyer to try to figure all this out. And I will figure it out, eventually.
My point in writing this isn’t to whine. Like I said, this will get worked out one way or another.
No, it’s to highlight how screwed up our government bureaucracy has become.
A person with a gun and a government badge asked me to swear in writing that a lie was true today. And when I didn’t do what she wanted she simply took my boat and asked me to leave.
...
I’ll probably get droned now, too."

[David M]

He has to keep taking his story to the press in order to embarrass the hell out of the DHS. Make sure far more negative publicity damage comes to the DHS than any gain they would get by seizing someones boat. That will be the most cost effective way of getting his boat back. Fortunately we still have a First Amendment that we can use against government crimes and injustices and an inexpensive way of getting this information out to the voters through the internet.

It bothers me how the DHS agent was gleeful about effectively stealing this guys boat. They sure ruined the day of a real terrorist. This was legal perhaps but definitely not ethical and clearly an injustice. Apparently DHS agents are used to lying and to them it is not a big deal to lie on official documents. This sounds like what you might find in Mexico. When do we start having to grease their palms in order to make things happen?

[David_Old_Jersey]

But is he feeling free?

[Ram]

The trouble is this kind of thing happens all the time in not only government but the private sector as well- I would never had been able to be in the Real Estate business or stay in business if I insisted on all the paper work be "perfect" In the real world its easier on your pocket book to do what they recommend to do and move on- I think this is one expensive lesson here to be learned

[S/V_Surya]

I think the most effective weapon today in the common mans arsenal is change.org. I have not used it yet to air my many grievances but this looks like a good candidate for that forum. You will get a lot of exposure. I also applaud you for not caving in to the pressure. Yeah, could have been easy to do and I would have done it. Also, you might contact your local congressman they can sometimes get this sorted out.

[CSY Man]

It is usually more to a story than this: Let's hear the other side....

[denverd0n]

And yet we still have people around who think our government needs even MORE petty bureaucrats with even MORE power. I'm sure this will eventually get worked out for the guy, but it's going to cost him money and time. Lousy situation.

[ReMetau]

I think I would have crossed out the amount and wrote in the correct amount with my initials beside it, and then signed their stupid form. The government loves forms.
Just another example of why I am an anarchist.

[nimblemotors]

You'll have to excuse me, but sounds like this fellow was just looking for trouble to create a story to tell. It is quite simple, correct the form initial it and then sign it.
That said, my boat was boarded by the coast guard and searched for no real reason.
laws continue to get worse and worse such that today (in usa and elsewhere) the people have lost control. We need new political leaders to reverse the trends.
Unfortunately, when the same people get re-elected over and over and over, nothing changes, and is the fault of the people themselves, they have the power to change it.

[DeepFrz]

Unfortunately, when the same people get re-elected over and over and over, nothing changes, and is the fault of the people themselves, they have the power to change it.

Only if they can come to a consensus which is almost impossible today. Look at how difficult it is for forum members to come to a consensus on simple little things. How do you get a nation of people to come together and vote the rascals out or to even recognize who the rascals are?

[CarlF]

Wait a minute. Everything was cool. The customs agent was ready to clear the boat. And then the author gets into an argument over a trivial paperwork error and "declines" to do what the agent asks? Geez.

This isn't a story of a new "US government take over". Customs agents (most places in the world) have a lot of discretionary power and a lot of byzantine rules. Find a politician who's against "Secure borders".

A border crossing is not the time or place to be difficult or impolite.

But at least in the US, a bribe isn't required too.

[rivonia]

Sounds as though some one is telling porkies here. Always remember that there are TWO sides to every story.

[Dsanduril]

I for one pretty much believe the story. I recently had to sign a form related to background screening for the same governmental agency. The form listed my name (and any aliases) and required me to sign under penalty of perjury that it was my "true and correct" name. Only they spelled it wrong. 50 (no kidding) pages of computer generated documents, and they got it wrong on one, the one I had to sign. (How does one document generated from the same database have a different spelling than all the rest?)

I crossed out, corrected, and initialed as suggested here, then signed. That was not acceptable, the form had to go back to some bureaucratic hole, get corrected in some nightmare computer system, get re-generated, and then I had to sign again, two weeks later. Meanwhile, can't do the job I was hired to do until the paperwork is complete.

If buyer signs the DHS form then likely the amount shown there will end up being used for taxation in WA, if it was higher than the actual value then I wouldn't want to sign the uncorrected form either, as now you are saddled with an incorrect value (and the resulting taxation) for the life of your boat (of course, I assume it valued the boat higher than actual, had it been lower he probably would have signed).

[tbodine88]

When dealing with a "peace officer", do as they say or say what they want to hear.

This policy has served me well.

This morning on NPR, there was a story about a woman in China, going to protest some difficulty she had with her local government. The local officials stationed police at the train station whose job was to throw any one in jail coming to protest. She could have protested and maybe gotten redress. But she made the mistake of telling the truth when the police asked if she was coming to protest, she said yes. This despite the common knowledge that a lie would get you by the police. So she spent four years in a labor camp and lost her teeth by having them kicked in because she complained.