Maryland Natural Resources Police Remind Boaters, Hunters To Be Safe This Holiday Weekend

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ANNAPOLIS — The Labor Day holiday marks the traditional end of the summer boating season and the beginning of Maryland’s hunting seasons. While early September is the perfect time of year for family and friends to gather and enjoy the state’s forests and waterways, accidents tend to happen more frequently during the busy holiday weekends. To keep Marylanders safe, the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) will be conducting an extensive enforcement effort spanning the state called Operation Nightfall.

Operation Nightfall is designed to remind people of the need for safety in the boating and hunting environment. Over the course of the extended holiday weekend, NRP officers will be conducting patrols to detect and apprehend boaters operating impaired and in a negligent or reckless manner. Patrols will utilize aircraft, vessels and surveillance units to keep unsafe operators off the waterways. Roving land patrols will also be monitoring hunting activity, with a focus on safety-related violations and trespassing. Additional patrols will concentrate on public lands, as this is one of the most popular camping weekends of the year. Officers will focus on park quiet hours enforcement and safety issues that infringe upon the quality of a visitor’s experience in Maryland’s parks and forests.

Although the 2006 Labor Day holiday weekend saw less boating activity than normal due to poor weather conditions, NRP still issued a total of 1,035 citations and warnings. NRP officers investigated one boating accident and one boating-related fatality. Four individuals were charged with operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol, four individuals were arrested for other criminal acts, and one for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

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August 30, 2007

The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) is the enforcement arm of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). With an authorized strength of 280 officers and a dedicated staff of civilian and volunteer personnel, the NRP provide a variety of services in addition to conservation and boating law enforcement duties throughout the State of Maryland. These services include homeland security, search and rescue, emergency medical services, education, information and communications services on a round the clock basis. NRP is the only police force aside from the Maryland State Police that has statewide jurisdiction.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 449,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov