Dep. Tom Posma stands watch on the patrol boat.
By Mark Varenhorst, MCP Contributor
Living in Ludington and the Mason County area, we are on the shores of Lake Michigan and are surrounded by inland lakes too numerous to name and rivers running through our area. All year round many of us enjoy fishing, sailing, boating these waters and during the warm parts of the year our population surges with visitors coming to the area or snow birds returning.
Dep. Mike Fort, left, and Dep. Mason Marrison.
If you live near the shore of Lake Michigan you are witness to the increase of small boat traffic during different parts of the spring, summer and fall. Ludington does have a U.S. Coast Guard station, actually a new one that was built recently, but due to budgets and manpower, that station has not been manned for some time. Services on the big lake such as life saving, law enforcement and boater safety are handled now from either the Muskegon or Manistee stations. That means a long response time. Enter the Mason County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit. I have recently had a chance to interact with the people that make this unit what it is. Back 20 years ago I do remember the unit when it was one full time deputy and a part time one for the summer months. Oh, how times have changed, and for the better.
The unit now consists of six deputies and one reserve deputy working full or part time. Their boats are suited for the patrols they do on Lake Michigan, inland lakes and the rivers of Mason County. Because the USCG station in Ludington is not manned, the MCSO boat covers the areas north and south of the Ludington pier for about 30 miles of coast. It has a 25-foot boat, that works on Lake Michigan, that is usually tied up along Loomis Street at the Ludington Municipal Marina, near the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) boat and the Ludington Harbor Patrol boat.
The 25 footer saw service with the USCG before assuming its new role with the MCSO. The unit also has a 22 foot metal shark, and two 16 foot boats, one of them being a flat bottom boat for shallow areas.
I went out with deputies Mike Fort and Mason Marrison to see what they do with the 25 footer. Fort is the officer in charge of the marine unit for MCSO, reporting to Undersheriff Derrek Wilson. At one point we also did an escort of the SS Badger out of the harbor. The MCSO does this duty almost daily depending on boat traffic in the area. Deputies escort the Badger in and out of the harbor and channel trying to keep a safe lane for the ship.
Following the Badger
Fort explained that the Badger has a limited amount of maneuverability and visibility and for the safety of boaters and the ship, they try to keep the channel as clear as possible at that point. They enforce state laws and codes which, as I write this, are being updated to help ensure that safety. “We are not out here to write tickets. We are out here to ensure safety for the ships coming and going and the boaters using the waters in the area,” Fort said adding that if they have USCG personnel on board they can enforce federal laws on waterways.
While on the boat Fort and Marrison explained the use of the sonar on board for search duties should it become necessary after a water emergency. The same technology they use to look for someone underwater for a recovery is the same basic technology the boaters use that are in the channel and the basin during fishing derbies etc. They explained that sometimes the boaters become so fixed on what they are watching they do not notice a larger vessel entering the harbor.
New rules are being drafted on the channel and basin of Pere Marquette Lake regarding fishing and boating and clearance for commercial vessels. There are tow boats in the area that can be called on to tow in a disabled boat but in an emergency, the 25 footer is rigged for towing and has done that job. Fort explained what doing that job was like in heavy weather while in the dark once. I was glad I was not on board for that, although it would have made an interesting story.
Fort graduated from Northern Michigan University in 1998 with a history degree. He served in the U.S. Army and Michigan National Guard. He chose to go to into police work and went to the academy and then went to the Muskegon Police Department.
Posma, left, and Willis
Fort and his wife decided they wanted to be closer to home (both she and he are from the Mason County area) so they moved to the area. He spent time with MCSO and ran the marine unit, then a period at Ludington Police Department, and found himself back with MCSO in 2023.
I would be remiss if I did not mention Fort’s dad, John, was also a MCSO deputy and I spent many a time visiting with him. Most of what the marine unit does is proactive work. Checking boaters and boats as they pass them, boat launch checks and just general safe operation.
Each season the Marine Unit does a sort of academy for all the deputies that will be working with the unit covering things such as towing, recovery, man-over-board, and weapons certification.
The 25 footer that I rode in with Fort and Marrison is about to get new motors. The current ones are 20 years old and, although they perform well — and I can surely attest to that, the new ones will be much more reliable. Being with them on the lake I was able to understand the difficulty they face of approaching and stopping boats. It is not like walking up from a patrol unit it is moving all the time and both the suspect boat and your own. Depending on wind and waves it can get interesting to say the least.
Mason Marrison is a part time deputy with MCSO working the marine unit. He is a lifelong resident of Mason County, and most of his family is still in this area. He is attending Northern Michigan University where my grandson also has been. When he finishes there, Marrison wants to go to a police academy or to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) law enforcement academy, eventually working for the DNR or United States Fish and Wildlife.
Working the marine patrol is getting his first experience, but he really wants to get into wildlife crime enforcement at some level. Marrison was quite good at handling the 25 footer and I felt right at ease. But then he has been training under Fort, who happens to be his uncle, and it is obvious Fort knows his boats.
Marrison also works part time for Lake Michigan Carferry, handling automobiles at the Ludington dock and attending to lines for the comings and goings of the Badger. Just watching him, it’s easy to see whatever job he does he will do well as there is an intensity in his work.
Dep. Fort operates the boat.
On another trip on the 25 footer I had a chance to interact with Deputy Mark Willis and Deputy Tom Posma. Deputy Willis came out of National Louis University with a master’s degree in biology. He spent time teaching in Hart, and then Ludington High School. He now teaches full time as an agricultural science teacher for the West Shore Educational Service District’s Summit Technical Center (formerly Career and Technical Education).
Prior to that he spent two years with the DNR. Willis was adept at maneuvering the 25 foot boat alongside boats in side anchorages to check their registration number and getting us up close for a look that all was well in the subject boat. He and deputy Posma, and in fact all the marine officers, move from the big lake to inland lakes and rivers as need arises.
Posma is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a veteran of MCSO, having been there over 30 years. He retired full time from the sheriff’s office as a detective sergeant. I met him when I was running the reserve department a lifetime ago.
Posma found his way back now in a new calling as a marine deputy. Teamed up with Deputy Willis I found it interesting that two men coming from such different backgrounds performed seamlessly together. Posma’s law enforcement background and Willis’s biology and teaching background are an interesting combination. They seemed a very well matched team in action. One thing that surely stood out as I have been around the group is they all get along very well. Very easy going and forthcoming with information. If I didn’t understand something they surely explained it well so I did. I found being out with these people made me miss being with the reserves and being able to spend a lot more time with them.
In a future segment of this series I hope to get together with the other deputies on the unit and also get some time on inland lakes and on the rivers. More to come..
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