Conservation Police Officers (CPOs) with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) were busy over the Independence Day weekend.
They participated with boating agencies across the U.S. in Operation Dry Water, and focused on saving lives on the water through the enhanced enforcement of life jacket laws. Virginia has seen 11 boating-related fatalities so far this year. Each of these could have been prevented by wearing a life jacket. A Personal Floatation Device (PFD) is required for everyone who is on any type of boat or vessel in Virginia.
In the effort to keep Virginia’s waterways safe, CPOs were out on the water in force, looking out for boaters who were under the influence and boaters who did not have the proper safety equipment on their boats.
Over this long weekend of heightened enforcement, 142 CPOs patrolled 52 bodies of water, conducted….