Watercraft Registration Renewals

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The Michigan Department of State offers several alternatives to renewing your watercraft registration at a Secretary of State branch office. These methods are fast, reliable, convenient, and will save you time!



No more waiting in lines at the branch offices, driving in poor weather conditions, or taking time off work. If you are simply renewing your watercraft registration, use one of these convenient options: renewal by touch-tone [url "http://michigan.gov/sos/1,1607,7-127-1585_1587_1590-30659--,00.html"][#0000ff]telephone[/#0000ff][/url], [url "http://webcom.sos.state.mi.us/cgi-bin/mistart?W"][#0000ff]Internet[/#0000ff][/url], or [url "http://michigan.gov/sos/1,1607,7-127-1585_1587_1590-30700--,00.html"][#0000ff]mail[/#0000ff][/url].



Watercraft registration renewals are available via the Internet and touch-tone service between March 1st and August 31st.



Renewing your registration by Internet is quick and easy. You can access the online renewal form-24 hours a day, 7 days a week.



You can use this service if:

[ul] [li] The address is correct on each renewal notice. (If not correct, you can only renew by mail, fax, or at a branch office). [li]The owner name and watercraft information is correct on each renewal notice. (If not, you will need to renew at a Secretary of State branch office). [li]Your renewal notice has a PIN. (If no PIN was assigned, you can only renew by mail, fax, or at a branch office). [li]You have a valid Visa, MasterCard, or Discover credit card. [/li][/ul]


To renew your watercraft registration by Internet, complete and submit the [url "http://webcom.sos.state.mi.us/cgi-bin/mistart?W"][#0000ff]Watercraft Online Renewal Form[/#0000ff][/url]. To ensure timely processing, please complete all required fields on the form. If you provide a return e-mail address, you will receive an e-mail confirming that your transaction has been processed.



Your new registration and decal will arrive in the mail within 7 business days.

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[davetclown]

[font "Times New Roman"]Boater records database[/font]

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[font "Times New Roman"]by [/font][url "http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/action.lasso?-response=/action.lasso?-database=altpareditorial&-layout=authorsearch&-Response=editorialtableindex.lasso&-op=cn&t2=Michael%20Hoskins&-op=cn&t5=Spinal%20Column&-op=eq&t19=Y&-sortfield=d1&-sortorde%20"][font "Times New Roman"]Michael Hoskins[/font][/url]

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[font "Times New Roman"][#000080]June 12, 2002 - [/#000080]Under a pilot program developed by the Oakland County Sheriff's Department Marine Division, deputies can now better track boaters on local waters who have a history of marine law violations, by using a new system to catalog warnings and citations given out on the county's more than 450 inland lakes.[/font]

[font "Times New Roman"]Just prior to the Memorial Day holiday, which is designated as the official start of the boating season, deputies began using the new ACCESS database system that was developed by one of their own.

According to Deputy Bruce Osmon, the creator of the new system, the program is set up as a fully-automated Microsoft ACCESS database with full identification methods. Information inputted into the system includes the lake, they deputy, the name of the offender and what type of citations or warnings have been issued. By keying in a boater's name or boat registration number, deputies are able to access a boater's record.

"Maybe this guy has three warnings this year already and they're all for the same thing," Osmon said. "Well, if an officer has this information available when stopping this guy again, we'll know that maybe it's time to issue a stronger warning or give that person a ticket."

Osmon said a location function has been added to the system so deputies can check specific lakes for particular problems or can browse local ordinances that pertain to that water.

"We can keep track of what lakes have the most problems and adjust (patrols) accordingly," Osmon said. "This is a better tool to manage a new or younger staff. If a deputy is new on the lake and doesn't know the particular ordinances or common boaters, they can use this system to learn those rules and find out what may be a potential problem."

Osmon noted that all deputies will have access to this database by using their unit number, and will be able to call into the division office by radio or phone to retrieve information.

As the largest marine division in the state with about 70 part-time deputies patrolling the county's waterways, the county's Marine Division focuses enforcement efforts on 40 to 50 of the most heavily used lakes within the county. Some lakes are patrolled daily while others are covered every weekend.

"This is something that should have been thought of a long time ago," said Lt. Tim Atkins, who heads the county's Marine Division. "We give out a lot more warnings than we do tickets, and I wonder how many of those are to the same people for the same kinds of things. (Before this database), we didn't have anything to look back and see if that person has a history. This will change that and help us better monitor our waters."

Other Southeast Michigan marine law enforcement officials voiced positive feelings about the database, as well.

"This system sounds like a very positive thing that can make the job a lot easier for (deputies)," said Lt. Karin Nowacki of the Livingston County Sheriff's Department Marine Division. "Right now we only track written warnings and there's no way to track verbal warnings. (Deputies) run a person's name through an in-house computer, and it brings up all the written warnings and tickets (a boater) has. Oakland's system sounds very cool."

In Macomb County, Sgt. Edward Mason said the Marine Division there records all warnings that are issued each day, although the information is not input into a computer and is only compiled into comprehensive graphs at the end of each year.

"We don't do weekly or daily breakdowns," Mason said, "but we do keep track. Something that does that would be a very effective tool, and being able to access a boater's history would definitely come in handy."

Oakland County's Osmon said the system is still in its beginning stages, though, and its benefits will be more obvious as time goes on.

"It's only been up and running for a few weeks," Osmon said. "As we go, we can enhance it. Whatever data deputies want, we can search it. Now we have something in place that is very user-friendly, and it'll be a growing process for awhile. By mid-season (in July), we should start seeing it help out communities quite a bit."[/font] [font "Times New Roman"]

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[font "Times New Roman"]Michael Hoskins is a staff writer for the Spinal Column Newsweekly[/font]
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