As boaters hit the waters for the holiday, so do conservation officers

LAKE SHAFER, Ind. (WLFI) - If you've ever been on the lake or river during a holiday, you've probably passed a conservation officer patrolling the waters.

From life jacket counts to sobriety tests, conservation officers do it all.

"How we doing? Is there a reason you don't have an operator in the boat," said Conservation Officer Todd Peckny.

With two officers in a boat and two on waverunners, there wasn't a shortage of them on Lake Shafer Wednesday afternoon. For holidays, conservation officers hit the water in full swing. Due to the 4th of July falling on a Wednesday this year, they'll spend even more time patrolling the lakes and rivers.

"Today being a Wednesday, yeah, there is more boat traffic which is fairly uncommon. We'll probably see an increase Thursday  and Friday as well as Saturday and Sunday this week. A little more of a longer holiday," said conservation officer Matt Tholen.

Tholen said a registration violation is the most common thing boaters get pulled over for. He said while officers already have the boat pulled over, they'll come across another common violation.

"We'll start doing the life jacket investigation to make sure everybody has a life jacket on board and that's what we usually run into. Not everybody has the required amount of life jackets on board for each person," said Tholen.

Officer Peckny said officers always keep a look out for drunk drivers.

"If you are going to be drinking, make sure you have a designated operator for the boat. I think about 68% of the accidents involved alcohol last year," said Peckny.

Both Tholen and Peckny said their job is to prevent those kinds of accidents from happening. They said they aren't out to get anybody. They just want to make sure everybody plays their part to stay safe out on the water.