Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine Updated at 1:32 p.m. Saturday to include more information about how Linda Sutter and Redwood Voice obtained the patrol logs and to remove the names of the individual patrolmen named in the logs from the article. To view the Harbor District Patrol logs for December 2024 2025, click here. Linda Sutter says she was acting on a tip when she requested copies of the Crescent City Harbor patrol logs under the California Public Records Act. What she found prompted her to not only inform harbor commissioners, it was enough to take her before the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors. “I pulled a random log for the month of December,” said Sutter, a community activist, frequent public commenter before both governing bodies as well as a 2024 candidate for the Harbor District Board. “I wanted to read how they write their reports.” For three minutes on June 22, Sutter, naming names, told supervisors that CCHD patrolmen regularly call a Bayside RV Park tenant “shower nazi” in their reports with one employee saying he told her that he was “checking for skin walkers.” Sutter recounted the patrolmen’s disgust with the sea lions on the old U.S. Coast Guard dock, with one member in the logs saying they should be arrested for “malicious fecal distribution.” She also took issue with other language patrol staff used in the logs, including “tweakie—twack” and “noisy hoe.” MX-7081_20250724_120213Download “[If] these go to court, guess what, I don’t have to tell county counsel what that would do in a courtroom,” she said, alleging that Harbormaster Mike Rademaker hadn’t read the patrol logs. Sutter repeated her concerns before the Harbor District Board of Commissioners on July 23 when they were asked to adopt a Title VI Non-Discrimination Policy Statement and approve Title VI and Americans with Disabilities Act Discrimination and Complaint Procedures. Sutter also shared her findings with Redwood Voice Community News and said she filed a CPRA request to obtain records for October and November of 2024 as well as January through June of 2025. Rademaker acknowledged that the language in the patrol logs was accurate. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin in programs receiving federal funding. According to a July 18 staff report from Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr, who manages the Harbor District’s grant-funded projects, approving a non-discrimination policy is necessary to receive more than $15 million in U.S. Department of Transportation dollars for the reconstruction of Citizens Dock and an adjacent seawall. Responding to Redwood Voice Community News after the July 23 Harbor District meeting, Rademaker confirmed Sutter’s allegations that he hadn’t been reviewing the patrol logs. He blamed this lack of oversight on not having enough time, saying CCHD’s three executive positions have been reduced to one. Still, the logs could be brought up to a higher level of professionalism, Rademaker said. “When those guys were writing those reports, they were expecting that it would be internal and it wouldn’t be submitted to the public,” he said. “I think they got a little bit too comfortable thinking that it was an internal memorandum and they didn’t realize that the nature of the California Public Records Act [means] that anything like that needs to be written in a professional manner because it could be requested by the public.” Rademaker also addressed other items in the CCHD patrol logs Redwood Voice brought to his attention, including instances when security encountered intoxicated individuals passed out in a vehicle. Sutter told Redwood Voice on Thursday that she had those same concerns as well and said she plans on showing the logs to the California Highway Patrol, the Del Norte County Sheriff and the Crescent City Police Department. “They need to start watching out for that stuff,” she said. CCHD Lt. Justin Hanks is the only Harbor Patrol member who has completed a California POST-certified course on making arrests and the use of firearms, according to Rademaker. He has POST-certified training in the use of first aid, CPR and AED devices as well as administering Narcan. Hanks has also received POST-certified training on using less-lethal control devices including the BOLAWrap, Rademaker said via email on Monday. The rest of the CCHD patrol force have POST-certified training in first aid, CPR and Narcan administration and informal training on defensive tactics and patrol techniques, Rademaker said. “Due to budget limitations, a broader law enforcement training and certification program has been contemplated but remains on hold until funding is available,” the harbormaster told Redwood Voice. “As a result, under current department policy, no harbor patrol officers are authorized to carry firearms or any other weapons, including Tasers or other less-lethal devices. [And] no officers are authorized to make arrests in connection with law enforcement activities. Their role is focused on ordinance enforcement, public safety observation and coordination with outside law enforcement agencies when necessary.” On one occasion, at about 12:50 a.m. Dec. 21, 2024, a CCHD patrolman reported that he was conducting a vehicle check near Port o’ Pints South Beach when he found someone in a camper van “too intoxicated to leave.” The patrolman said he left them alone. “I don’t want to be responsible if they drive off and crash,” he said in his report. On the second occasion at about 1:20 a.m., the patrolman said he ran into the issue again of people being too drunk to drive. “There is one parked by england mrine (sic) and one parked by the boat launch, both were at port-o-pints (sic) before closing and when I talked to them both smelled of alcohol,” he said. “I was not comfortable asking them to leave and let them be.” The logs do not specify where the patrolman found the two individuals. When asked why employee didn’t contact law enforcement, Rademaker pointed out that California simply being asleep or intoxicated in a parked car, even if they’re behind the wheel, “is not by itself grounds for arrest unless there is evidence of recent driving or volitional movement of the vehicle.” In both cases, the employee had made the decision to monitor the situation but take no further action because of the lack of evidence that the vehicle had been or would be driven, Rademaker said. “The officer exercised discretion in choosing not to escalate the situation, which could have prompted the individual to begin driving away,” he said. “The concern about prompting driving may be inferred from the report where he states not wanting to be responsible if they drive off and crash.” Rademaker said the patrolman could have contacted law enforcement as a precaution and added that the log entry offers “only a brief snapshot and may not reflect all relevant factors.” “Officers are expected to use discretion, balancing public safety with responsible use of calls for support,” Rademaker said. “Routinely calling law enforcement in situations where no active crime or immediate threat is apparent can overburden the limited public safety resources available in our county.” According to a July 26 blog post from Southwest Legal, a firm of criminal defense attorneys based in Southern California, an intoxicated individual can be charged with driving under the influence in a parked car depending on where the car is parked, whether the engine is running or warm, whether the individual is in the driver’s seat, the location of their keys and an individual’s statements. Rademaker also commented on the “sea lion incident” Sutter referred to. In a Dec. 22 entry at 7:36 p.m., according to the patrol logs, another patrolman stated that he had scared the animals off the Coast Guard dock, but it was “hard to know if my shots are even close due to it being dark and me not being a shooter.” In another entry on Dec. 29 at about 6 a.m., a patrolman said he was able to use his stun baton and clear the sea lions off the dock. According to Rademaker, the Crescent City Harbor District is able to use noise makers and non-toxic, water-soluble paintball or airsoft devices to urge the sea lions to move along. “Over the past 14 years, there have been no documented cases of marine mammal injuries resulting from the use of these methods within the Crescent City Harbor District’s jurisdiction,” he said. “In the event that an injury were to occur, the matter would immediately be referred to the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center for [the] appropriate response and care.” On July 23, Sutter, who has a legal case pending against the Harbor District, told commissioners that, while adopting a non discrimination policy is a good idea, the language appearing in the patrol logs could put the agency at risk of further lawsuits. According to Bahr’s staff report, to receive the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration Port Infrastructure Improvement Grant, CCHD must adopt a Title VI Non-Discrimination Policy Statement. CCHD must include a copy of the public’s rights under Title VI and the ADA on its website as well as its public bulletin board. CCHD must also publish a “Public Notice of Non-Discrimination Rights” in the Del Norte Triplicate, according to Bahr’s staff report.