If you receive a call from someone saying they are from the IRS, please know this is a scam! The IRS will not call you, they will contact you through a letter in the mail. Please do not provide any of your personal information to anyone calling you saying they are from the IRS.

If you’re one of many getting your boat ready to take out on one of our many beautiful lakes this Memorial Day Weekend, make sure you have the correct life jackets and/or personal flotation devices (PFD) on board.

Boating accident statistics compiled by the U.S. Coast Guard indicate that 90 percent of people who drown in a boating or water accident would be alive today if they had been wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident.

Who must wear a personal flotation device (PFD) or life jacket?
• Children less than 6 years of age must wear a Type I or Type II PFD when riding in the open deck area of a boat.
• Each person operating, riding on or being towed behind a personal watercraft (jet ski) must wear a Type I, Type II or Type III PFD (not an inflatable device).
• Each person less than 12 years of age riding or being towed behind a personal watercraft (jet ski) must wear a Type I or Type II PFD.

What type of PFD do I need to carry on my boat in Michigan?
• Vessels less than 16 feet (including canoes and kayaks) must be equipped with one Type I, II, III or IV PFD for each person on board.
• All vessels less than 16 feet and used on the Great Lakes or connecting waterways are required to carry one approved Type I, II or III device for each person on board.
• Vessels 16 feet and longer, in addition to the Type I, II or III for each person on board must carry one type IV. (Canoes and kayaks over 16 feet are exempt from the Type IV requirement.)
• All PFDs must be ready at hand and not enclosed in plastic bags or other containers.

If you have other questions, please contact Sgt. Todd Wagner at twagner@allegancounty.org or by phone at 269.673.0500 ext. 4456

The annual Click It or Ticket campaign is Michigan’s ongoing enforcement and education effort to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries by promoting seat belt use and making sure seat belts are being worn correctly. Please always wear your seat belt.

I was able to catch Sheriff Baker in the parking lot and he is showing us the proper way and improper ways of wearing the shoulder harness.

The shoulder harness should always be worn across the shoulder and chest with minimal, if any slack. It should not
be worn under the arm or behind the back. Wearing the harness the wrong way could cause serious internal injuries in a crash.

Additional information on seat belt use and safety:
The lap belt should be adjusted so that it is snug and lies low across your hips after fastening.
If you have an automatic shoulder belt, be sure to buckle your lap belt as well. Otherwise, in a collision you could slide out of the belt and be hurt or killed.

Officers from the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office and around the state of Michigan will be focusing on seat belt enforcement during the Click It or Ticket campaign, May 21-June 3. The mobilization is about saving lives and reducing injuries. Buckling up can reduce the risk of serious injury or death by 45%.

Michigan law requires drivers, front seat passengers and passengers 15 and younger in any seating position to be buckled up. Children must be in a car seat or booster seat until they are 8 years old or 4’9” tall, and children under 4 years old must be in the back seat.

**UPDATE: The subjects below have been located and identified. We want to thank everyone for sharing our post and for all of the tips we received, it was very helpful and in locating them.**

We need your help in identifying the people in the photos who were involved in a retail fraud on Thursday, May 10, at a local Plainwell store. They were seen driving this yellow Monte Carlo. If you have seen the people or car or know who they are, please contact our Detective Bureau, Detective Gardiner at 269.686.4705 or Detective Lytle at 269.673.4286, or you can message us through here.

It is with great sadness to share with all of you that one of our retired K9’s, Talon, has passed away, he was 10 years old. Talon had been with our Office for 8 years and was partnered with Deputy VanderPloeg for 5 of those years until Talon’s retirement in 2017. As with all our K9’s they become a part of their handler’s family, so the past few days have been rough for the VanderPloegs. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this time.