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USCG Captain Sheryl Dickinson Focuses on Boater Safety

By Rachel Arndt

As commander of the U.S. Coast Guard's Sector St. Petersburg, Sheryl Dickinson directs missions that range from providing security at more than a dozen seaports to coordinating the response to pollution threats following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Day-to-day, however, her biggest focus is much closer to home for many Tampa Bay residents – keeping boaters safe.

"It's purely a numbers game," she says. "We have a large number of recreational boaters, including snowbirds who don't have a lot of experience on the water. We also have commercial fishermen who don't always have the biggest and best boats and may not be carrying the proper safety equipment."

The worst-case scenario occurs when a wife calls the Coast Guard to report that her husband hasn't come home from a fishing trip. She knows where he launched the boat but doesn't know where he went. He has a cell phone but not a marine radio or beacon.

"That leaves us starting with a 100,000-square-mile search area," Dickinson says. "We need boaters to help us help them. Cell phones don't always work and everyone should have a marine radio and an electronic locator beacon.

"The technology is there to take the 'search' out of search and rescue but we need you to help us help you."

Many of the Coast Guard's boater safety programs are offered through the auxiliaries operating in the Tampa Bay region, she adds. Nearly 1,700 volunteers work across the sector, teaching boater safety classes and offering voluntary boat inspections at popular boat launches. (For more information on the Coast Guard Auxiliary, read our profile on Jim Fogel in Fall 2005.)

Preparing for the Worst

Along with helping to keep recreational boaters safe, Dickinson serves as Captain of the Port, responsible for coordinating the transit of more than 8,000 commercial vessels every year. An important part of that job is working with the maritime community to prepare for hurricanes and other weather events.

"The cooperation in this area is phenomenal," she said. The Tampa Bay Harbor Safety & Security Committee, and its Port Heavy Weather Advisory Group, brings together pilots, port officials and operators to plan for hurricanes. "They meet and determine the risk and then make recommendations to me," she said.

Beginning this year, a partnership with Manatee County's Emergency Operations Center will allow key personnel and equipment to move from their waterfront location in downtown St. Petersburg if a hurricane threatens Tampa Bay. "We'll be able to take the people and computers we need and move further inland to a hardened facility where they can go for two weeks without power," she said. "Storm surge is always a concern."

Best Decision She Ever Made

A graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy and Loyola University School of Law, Dickinson's Coast Guard career has literally spanned the nation. Her first posting was as a staff attorney in Hawaii, then she came to Tampa in 1996 assigned to the marine safety office. Following 9/11, she was instrumental in identifying vulnerabilities in the Coast Guard's merchant marine credentialing system, resulting in the largest investigation in Coast Guard history. She was in Miami directing search and rescue operations during the record-breaking 2004-2005 hurricane seasons before moving to Key West as the senior legal advisor to a task force responsible for narcotic operations across 42 million square miles.

She took command of Sector St. Petersburg last summer and expects to spend a three-year term here.

Ironically, Dickinson's first attempt to join the Coast Guard nearly failed. "I was practicing law in Fort Lauderdale but not feeling any sense of real accomplishment. I sat next to a Coast Guard officer at a dinner function and it sounded so exciting that I called a recruiter the next day."

The recruiter's first response was that Dickinson, who was almost 30 years old, was too old to join and he hung up on her. She called back and asked him to check again. "Needless to say, he was wrong."

Joining the Coast Guard was the best decision she's ever made, she adds. "Like any career, it is what you make it – but if you make the effort then you will be repaid 1000-fold. The Coast Guard gives you the opportunity to excel regardless of your race, gender or background."