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Parkinson’s naval vessel now operational

March 4, 2015
Sheriff Ian Parkinson

Sheriff Ian Parkinson

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson has unveiled his 27-foot Defender Class boat that will allow sheriff’s personnel to step up their battle against drug smugglers frequenting local shores.

Parkinson showed off the approximately $350,000 boat on Tuesday near Avila Beach. He acquired the vessel by attaining nearly $500,000 in federal funds in order to deal with the influx of panga boats arriving in San Luis Obispo County.

Last year, Parkinson told the board of supervisors that he needed the defender class in order to tow pangas, and that it was costing the county nearly $10,000 to tow each of the smuggling boats. However, officials from the U.S. Coast Guard and Homeland Security department said they never charged the county for towing the drug boats, nor for taking part in criminal investigations relating to them.

Sheriff’s personnel are now saying that they will also use the boat to intercept the pangas before they reach county beaches. The federal funds Parkinson acquired likewise included money for night vision goggles and a thermal-imaging camera to detect pangas at sea, sheriff’s officials said last year.

The new boat has two motors with 300 horsepower each, and it can reach speeds up to about 60 mph. The sheriff’s office plans to usually station the boat in Morro Bay.

Approximately 15 pangas have beached in San Luis Obispo County in the last three years.


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Why isn’t anyone asking about who supposedly is going to skipper this boat? There are rules and regulations about who can legally skipper a boat over 26ft that is engaged in commercial towing. Somehow I just don’t believe that the Sheriffs have a licensed towing master on their payroll.


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I am sure the taxpayers will fund the highest ranking Sheriffs on the totem pole to go to train for “Skipper School”. Super.


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YUP! Probably 2-3 while they’re at it.


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Well there are going to be gone for a long time with that. I do believe it takes about three years to work your way up from deck hand to master.


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw


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Panga boat criminals killed a Coast Guard sailor a while ago, ramming the Coast Guard boat and killing a Coastie. First of all, if they are foreign vessels sneaking ashore then I believe we should simply fire on them and sink them. Too easy. With that said, the cartels who run these boats are not nice people and I really don’t have a problem spending some money to equip law enforcement to deal with them. Yes we have the Coast Guard. However, they can’t be everywhere at once and maybe the Sheriff’s Office can make good use of this boat. We’re spending $12 million on a new DMV office to shovel out driver’s licenses to Senor y Senora No-Hablamos-Ingles; what is wrong with spending a fraction of that amount to enforce one of the few laws we bother to enforce anymore? I realize that many of the CCN denizens are on autopilot to criticize any government spending, but this particular expenditure seems reasonable to me. One man’s opinion.


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One Coast Guard sailor is killed since 1927, and that serves to justify spending MILLIONS (not just this boat, this is part of a “buy our boat we’ll get you the grant money” earmark scheme) that could be spent saving hundreds of other lives?


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I don’t know where you got the count of only one Coastie killed since 1927. However, let’s first establish that one death is quite a lot, if you’re the one. Right? So, I believe it was a very high casualty count from that perspective. But here’s what the USCG says about its deaths in war:


http://www.uscg.mil/history/faqs/wars.asp


Here’s another one talking about mission-related deaths, from 2011:


http://www.govexec.com/defense/2011/02/coast-guard-hurries-to-address-recent-rise-in-mission-related-deaths/33301/


Here’s an article on the death of the Coast Guard sailor:


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/04/coast-guard-death-california/1744843/


The man who saved lives off our coast:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/terrell-horne-iii-dead-co_n_2231837.html


The man whose wife and sons get to live without him, courtesy of foreign drug cartels:


http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2012/12/honoring-bmcs-terrell-horne-iii/


So, from my perspective, given all the money we’re wasting on free cell phones, Mugabe-Care, transgender restrooms, etc., spending some money on trying to stop these panga boat f*cks from coming ashore uncontested is money well spent. Again, just my opinion, to which I’m entitled, just as you are to yours. Cheers


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Pardon me, I used incorrect terminology. I should have said “murdered.” All the remaining coast guard deaths are from plane accidents. I am not going to count the first link, which is people who happened to be members of the coast guard who went to war.


So again, in the line of duty, since 1927 he was the only coast guard member murdered while on duty. Furthermore, the sheriff having a boat is not going to save the life of a coast guard member in this context, because they and not he, are supposed to intercept boats at


If you are really concerned about this kind of thing, then maybe you should focus your attention on the government making deals with the cartels: http://world.time.com/2014/01/14/dea-boosted-mexican-drug-cartel/


I am not even to justify all the other things that you listed that we spent money on, those are indeed ridiculous.


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Really, CCN?

He acquired the vessel by attaining nearly $500,000 in federal funds in order to deal with the influx of panga boats arriving in San Luis Obispo County.

I think you meant to say “obtaining” – as Parkinson neither achieved nor accomplished anything to get the money, he simply got it from the fed. Unless there was a contest or something we didn’t hear about and he won… then you’d be correct in his attaining the prize.


Grammar are funs and gooder than less people think.


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There is an old poem on the subject of words that sound a lot alike. r0y, I think you might enjoy it.


http://www.jir.com/pullet.html


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I would almost bet money that this boat NEVER does catch any PANGAS , if the coasties that live on the water , and patrol never intercept them at sea what makes th SO think they are going to catch them , and the coast guard ahas never charged the county when they pull them in , and they place them at the CG pier , so WHY do the tax payers have to foot the bill for a service we already have , and the CG does a hell of a lot better job of it .


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Ian was never asked to explain why he lied about the cost of towing panga boats as one reason why his department needed to acquire the newest department big boy toy. I’m sure lots of training days will soon be scheduled, also known as whoot whoot getting paid for a day on the ocean instead of working! The “DARE” program uses a viper for public appearances. These props and waste of tax dollars are nothing more than law enforcement Viagra.


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I wouldn’t be surprised if we see this $350K boat on its trailer, on display at the Sheriff’s booth at the Mid-State Fair.


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But, imagine how many arrests could take place at the fair?

Especially on the rock-n-roll performance nights!


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Ian, your doing a great job, Keep up the good work.


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I have a neighbor who neither watches television, reads any papers, nor uses a computer… I bet they also think he’s doing a great job!


FYI: You’re using your “your” incorrectly!


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Ian is doing a great job at spending a boat full of $$$ for a sh*t ton of new toys.

He’s feeding his ego, and having a ball on his spending spree.


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The complaint with law enforcement in the United States seems to be that many are not trained well enough, causing undo deaths. So here is our federal government who instead of better training the LE community they are paying for boats that we all know will never catch any pangas although they may catch a few rod cod. So Mr. Holder when you complain about LE remember you could have helped instead of handing out money for fishing fleets to the county sheriff.


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Typical mission creep. Fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayers dollars. The War on Drugs is a war on taxpayers.


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WOW ! We agree.


This will be an obsolete and expensive ‘white elephant’ once recreational marijuana becomes law in California; just like Colorado, Washington, and now Alaska.


And you know it will.

Course, it will be taxed, too.


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