Does a city police officer have the right to board and search a federal river companies river boats?

Question

My Dad works for a company that runs tugboats and barges up and down the ohio river. Today a city police officer boarded one of the boats with a dog to search for drugs. Was this an illegal search? The company is a federal/coast guard ran operation. Do city police have a right to do something like this? Does anyone know any websites where I can find out more information or who has authority to board these types of river vessels? We think it was an illegal search. Thanks!

Answer 1

Only if the boat is in their jurisdiction and they have probable cause that something illegal happened on it. In other words, You bet they do!

Answer 2

Was your vessel displaying Coast Guard registrations and insignia and crewed by USCG crew or is it a civilian contractor?

If it is a true USCG ship, then probably not but if you were a civilian contractor, then they probably did a legal search. Boats are generally governed by the same rules as cars.  

Answer 3

If the river runs through his city and that's where he boarded it, he may have jurisdiction.

Whether he needed a search warrant is another question, but there isn't enough here to say.