Its happen to me and friends in the Buckeye with a game warden and a watercraft officer. The game warden was just hell bent on impressing the chief for busting a poacher taking trout over the limit. If he had looked closer he'd have seen that the stringer had the limit of trout mixed with panfish. He was lessthan happy after it was pointed out to him after his supervisor drove up.
The watercraft officer was a 'Rambo' want-a-be that asked first if we had a job then proceeded to write violations for several individuals for pfd not worn, (not required to wear), pfd not safe (still had the price tags on). Too many individuals in a 17' canoe( two adults & a teen). The best was each canoe and kayak didn't have a fire extinguisher, visual distress flag or flares ( that is require of powerboats or when on Lake Erie not a small stream in southcentral Ohio). Then we had to take half a day fromwork to face the judge halfway across the state. The judge look at the citations and our pictures of the items in question and officer, he dismissed everything.
We wanted to share our appreciation to the officer for his effort and sent him a certificate for donuts and coffee at Jolley Pirate.
Needless to say those involve shared the pictures and statements to the district supervisor and department chief.