Sheriff's boat at star-studded Cape Cod wedding raises questions. What to know

EDITOR'S NOTE: A correction was made in this story on Aug. 9, 2022, to the spelling of Rep. Timothy Whelan's name. 

OSTERVILLE— On July 30, the Barnstable County Sheriff's Department boat escorted a bride to the altar at the Nauticus Marina, leaving one candidate in the race for sheriff questioning the boat's role in the mission of the department.

"The decision of the Sheriff's Office to allow its boat to be used as part of a 'star-studded' exclusive private wedding demonstrates a profound lapse in judgment and calls into the forefront the true role of the Sheriff," Donna Buckley, who is running for Barnstable County Sheriff, wrote in a letter to the Cape Cod Times. "The Sheriff's boat is owned by the taxpayers and operated with our tax dollars. It has no business being used for a private function."

The boat in question, a S300 SAFE Boat Patrol Boat part of the department's marine unit, was purchased through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security through their small boat security program, current Sheriff James Cummings said.

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The wedding party approached the department and asked for an escort for the bride's arrival on a small tugboat, Cummings said. They were concerned about boat traffic at the busy marina.

During the ceremony, Gov. Charlie Baker presided over the wedding of Boston public relations exec George Regan and Elizabeth Akeley. The wedding drew many from the world of politics, sports and entertainment.

The boat, manned by two officers, was on-duty from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. that day and the department agreed to the escort, which lasted only about 10 minutes, the sheriff said.

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The escort took place at about 2 p.m., Cummings added, and the party was advised if they needed anything outside of working hours they would need to pay for a security detail.

Because the escort was within working hours, the wedding party did not pay the department for the boat's use.

If an emergency happened during the escort that required the use of the boat, Cummings said the wedding party was aware the two officers manning the vessel would have to leave.

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Although rarely done, Cummings said the department might allow similar escorts on a case-by-case basis.

"It would depend on the circumstances and location," Cummings said. "If they were already on patrol or in the area we could do something similar. I would make it available, but it might get out of hand if we were just doing wedding escorts, we would have to stop."

For example, local yacht clubs have requested the presence of the boat in the past at events to help with security and boat traffic, although the boat was not at the wedding in any security capacity, Cummings said.

Why does a sheriff's department have a boat?

According to its mission statement, the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office, located at Joint Base Cape Cod in Bourne, operates the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, assists local agencies through specialized services and enforces the laws of Massachusetts and the United States.

Alongside the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, the sheriff's department operates a Bureau of Criminal Investigations, a Technical Division, an Emergency Communications Center and a Civil Process Division.

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Cummings said the boat, harbored in Falmouth, is monitored by the Coast Guard in Woods Hole which can see its location at all times.

"If the Coast Guard gets a call about a boat in distress and we're the closest to it, we'll get dispatched there to handle that," he said.

The boat is also sometimes used at local events for general security, like an annual triathlon at Old Silver Beach in Falmouth.

Sheriff candidates weigh in

State Rep. Timothy Whelan, R-Brewster, who is running against Buckley for sheriff after Cummings' retirement this year, said while he didn't know much about the specific situation of the recent wedding escort, he said it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a vessel like this to be used in certain circumstances for safety reasons.

Whelan, 1st Barnstable state representative since 2014 and previously a Massachusetts State Police sergeant, said when President Barack Obama visited Martha's Vineyard, he was a shift commander for his security detail, and local law enforcement boats were used to ensure the president's safety.

"One thing that a lot of people don't know is when the president was over on the Vineyard, 24 hours a day there was a Coast Guard cutter offshore, right near the president's rented residence for security," he said.

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While Whelan said he hadn't talked to the sheriff about the recent wedding escort, the presence of Gov. Baker and other politicians including Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., might have increased the need for security.

"If that was the case then I don't have a problem at all," he said.

In her letter, Buckley called for decommissioning the sheriff's boat.

"The statutory responsibility of the Barnstable County Sheriff — and all sheriffs throughout the Commonwealth — is the care and custody of inmates.  Although the Sheriff's office here on the Cape performs other important regional services, including operating a public safety answering point to answer 911 calls, the operation of a boat is not part of that core mission," she wrote. "One of my first actions as Barnstable County Sheriff will be to decommission the boat and immediately redirect the staff and resources to the sacred responsibility of the Sheriff — true public safety through correction, rehabilitation and treatment."

Sarah Carlon can be reached at: scarlon@capecodonline.com or on Twtter: @sarcarlon

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Barnstable County Sheriff's boat at Cape Cod wedding raises questions