The Patti Andras, the new marine patrol boat deployed on Pequot Pond by Westfield police, plies the waters of the pond as Coast Guard veterans who currently serve with the department instruct members of the new patrol boat. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – The long arm of the law was extended to reach into the middle of Pequot Pond when police launched in June the Patti Andras, a repurposed pontoon boat, to patrol the lake.
The boat, name after a former police commissioner, city councilor and concerned citizen, has been on station in the Pequot Pond for the past three weekends and its presence is being felt by boaters and other users of the pond and the state park there.
Police Chief John Camerota has said that the residents of the ponds neighborhood have been crying out for enforcement on the waters of the ponds where jet skis and other speedy watercraft, often unregistered, have reportedly operated recklessly with impunity for years.
Although officers in the maritime patrol have not suddenly started to strictly enforce the rules on the lake, they have been educating and warning boaters and at least one boat operator has found that police patience is not endless.
Capt. Hipolito Nunez said yesterday that a citation issued Sunday probably isn’t the first issued by the patrol officers in the middle of the pond but it is one of the first citations and will certainly not be the last.
A Holyoke man speeding on the water was warned to slow down three times Sunday, Officer Matthew Schultze reports, before the boat patrol officers decided they had to take action. The fourth time he was found to be violation of the 45 mph speed limit on the pond he was cited.
Schultze reports the man was found to be operating his boat at 46 mph before he was cited.
