The Night I Got Engaged. And Wet My Pants.

A politician's idea of romance:

City police are investigating why on-duty marine and helicopter officers helped a Baltimore County state delegate propose to his girlfriend by pretending to raid a boat the couple were aboard, a department spokesman said Monday.

Officers boarded the boat, owned by a friend of Del. Jon S. Cardin, on Aug. 7 in the Inner Harbor. As the helicopter Foxtrot hovered overhead, adding to the sense of tension, one report says officers pretended to search the vessel and even had the woman thinking she was about to be handcuffed before the delegate got on one knee and proposed…

…officers pretended to search the boat and found a box that they suspected contained contraband.

They ordered the soon-to-be fiancee to turn around as if they were about to handcuff her, according the report, and then she saw Cardin "on bended knee" and holding the ring that had been in the box.

The Gazette reported that Cardin was the "toast" of a convention of government leaders in Ocean City this past weekend for his "imaginative marriage proposal."

Looks like Cardin (nephew of the U.S. senator) found his match. She actually agreed to marry him after all of that. The Baltimore Police Department is currently seeking private donations to keep some of its units in operation. The marine unit in particular was grounded for part of the year last year due to budget cuts.