Trespassers on dock, how to fix?

[forgeblast]

Private property tresspassers will be towed....get to know a guy at a towing company and have him throw you a couple bucks for each tow
as far as boats load them up on a boat trailer and drop them off someplace far enought away that they have to drag them back to the water.
i was thinking the chain link fence route but its your property, why should you have to go through all that work to have peace of mind.
I think many calls to the cops will help fix that, and if it is a "community" accross the water using your dock they should have some type of covenant or governing body that you can contact.
Good luck.
Forgeblast

 

[Birdhunter1]

Just pull the drain plug on the transom of their boat instead, preferably when they are no where in sight.

 

[RobertN]

Not true.

You will have the registration numbers on the boat and can press charges for them tresspassing on your dock. They don't need to be there all day for you to press charges against them. You can take pictures and document it, or you can rely on your word against the tresspassers.

It's never useless to let the law do there jobs.

You can solve the problem or not.

Eddie

Add to that digital camera's... Get registration numbers, and a picture of the boat and/or people. Use the date and time function on the picture too. Get a little notebook, so you can document date, time, details, if you were in contact with the person etc.

Then, let the law do thier job.

 

[hitekcountry]

Instead of trying to drive people off, it’s better if they decide on their own that they don’t really want to come around. Of course you can help them make that rational decision.

Example ---put a sign on your dock COTTONMOUTH COVE


And another WATCH FOR SNAKES

 

[Dargo]

My "fix" was sort of a combination of the last two; I hid a high quality game camera to take pictures and then posted a sign that said "No Trespassing, and Smile, You're On Candied Camera! I then spent $15 on a dummy game camera and placed it where it would be relatively easy to find. I placed a note on it saying "Congratulations! You just found 1 of 6 cameras. I now have pictures of you from many angles"

As silly as it sounds, I'd say it has cut down on trespassers by about 90% or more. I do have pictures of some people trespassing, but since they did no damage and left no mess, I have not pursued the issue. Maybe something like that would work for you.

 

[forgeblast]

The game came works great, we are planning to do that in a place where there is a lot of dumping going on.
others have said it works for them too.
Forgeblast

 

[MLinOleMiss]

You will only have to have one person arrested for trespassing, word will travel like wildfire and should put an end to your problems. Just make sure that you have LOTS of documentation of the incident, because if you have a trespasser arrested and lose in court word will travel just as fast that someone used your dock and won the court case.

 

[SELKIRK]

Around my place we have this special type of week long dead fish that can and will jump into boats. You just might have them also, I find them sleeping in a 5gal bucket in the sun.

Selkirk

 

[dmccarty]

Richard,

You are going to have to find out the law in your area. See if YOU can swear out a warrant in your state for someones arrest. In some states you can if it is a non felony crime. I would ask the Sheriff what to do. Would a game camera help identify the person who tresspassed to the point of getting a warrant? How would you know the person's name. It would help I'm sure but its still work on your part.

I think you should call the Sheriff if he does have jurisdiction otherwise I assume its Federal property and it would be the TVA? In any case call. That at a minimum leaves a record. It seems like you big problem is liability. What if someone fell off the dock and drowned? Would this be considered an attrative nuisence?

At least with the painted no tresspass signs and recorded phone calls to law enfocement you have shown an effort to keep people off the dock. I would HOPE that would help.

I put up a trail tracker on our road before I could build a gate. I knew people where tresspassing but I did not know when. They where walking up the road at the same time every day and it turned out to be some neighbors going for a walk. I did not worry about them and once I got the gate up that solved the problem I was having with someone else.

Is there a place you could hide such a device or the game camera so that it won't get stolen and you can see if their is a pattern. That would make catching them a bit easier. Though it sounds like this will be a problem every holiday and weekend.

Sure it s a PITA that is for sure. Good Luck.

Dan

 

[1bush2hog]

Sounds like the "dock" is more of a beach area, or maybe I am misreading something here.

Is there a problem if you bring in a load of the larger chunks of granite to shore up this area? People probably would not want the hulls of their boats banging up against this type of material. They would also have to then anchor offshore far enough to avoid and maybe the water would then be too deep for them to easily come ashore?