Saranac Lake Police Chief Darin Perrotte, left, and Sgt. Luke Cromp patrol Lake Flower on personal watercraft during the Willard Hanmer Guideboat and Canoe Race. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Police Department is now on patrol — by water.

On Sunday, the department took its first patrol assignment on two personal watercraft, sometimes known colloquially as “jet skis.” The two watercraft were made possible by a state Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation program through a grant, and acquired at no cost to the village.

SLPD Chief Darin Perrotte said this is something he has been pushing for in the last couple of years. He began his career in law enforcement doing marine patrol with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office. When he became SLPD chief in 2022, he was surprised that — given how integral water is to the community — the department here didn’t have marine enforcement assets.

Perrotte said the two boats are state assets that are operated by the department through a memorandum of understanding. As such, a lot of the operating costs are reimbursed.

“We keep track of all of our costs and that includes personnel hours, fuel, oil supplies, all that type of stuff,” he said. “We can get reimbursement through the state up to a certain percentage, not fully reimbursed but it’s covering a lot of those costs, so it’s a great program.”

It took some time for the state to find personal watercraft when he first reached out.

“At the time, there were really no assets available,” Perrotte said. “Obviously, funding and assets are limited through the state.”

Last fall, the state got in touch with him and said they had found two personal watercraft previously owned and operated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office which were not being utilized frequently. If Saranac Lake was able to take them in, they were available. Perotte said he jumped on it.

After getting them touched up and making sure they were ready to go, Perrotte and SLPD Sgt. Luke Cromp were on patrol Sunday, providing coverage for the Willard Hanmer Guideboat and Canoe Race. They patrolled Lake Flower, which is within the village’s jurisdiction, to ensure that motorized watercraft kept a safe distance from the paddlers and maintained a low speed.

Going forward, Perrotte said education is a top priority of having a presence on the water.

“It’s going to be educational,” he said. “That’s something that’s been asked of me — if we’re going to be out there issuing a lot of tickets — and my goal is always education over enforcement.”

Perrotte noted that the recent enactment of Brianna’s Law requires that all motorboat operators in the state must have taken a state-approved boating safety course prior to operating. People who rent boats are exempted from this, however.

Perrotte said SLPD will be checking up on safety course completion while on the water. He expects not all boaters will be in compliance with the requirement, given its recency, and again, the focus will be on education.

He said that while police officers also have an exemption when using a boat on duty, he plans on making sure that all SLPD officers on marine patrol will have that safety course requirement in place before heading out.

“Even though we have that exemption, it’s only fair that if we’re out there enforcing it for the members of the public, we have it ourselves,” he said.

Perrotte said the marine patrol will also be looking out for general safety, especially in narrow no-wake zones, and ensuring that boaters have the necessary safety equipment while on the water.

“We don’t want to see anybody, god forbid, have a drowning or something out there,” he said.

Perrotte added that while SLPD’s top priority remains responding to 911 complaints within the village, he expects to do water enforcement as staffing allows throughout the summer, as well as when special events — such as the Hanmer — are taking place on the water.

“As we can staff them and get people out there — certainly on weekends or when the village is busy with special events and things like that going on — we’re going to do our best to get them out there and get some visibility,” he said.