Many Poachers Uncaught, Lightly Punished in Northwest

[bearpaw]

interesting story I stumbled onto:

Many Poachers Uncaught, Lightly Punished in Northwest

“When they work up good cases against these poachers, we owe it to them to pursue these cases in court aggressively,” Helm said. “If poachers know they’re going to get off, they’ll turn right around and do it again.”

Oregon and Washington have fewer fish and wildlife troopers than they had in the 1980s. The region’s population has grown by more than three million since then.

Meanwhile those troopers still working fish and wildlife enforcement have fewer hours to devote to such cases. To avoid deeper staff reductions and raise their profile, the states’ fish and wildlife enforcement divisions are also putting their troopers on other duties, like boating and ATV safety or drug eradication.

Dissension in Washington

The way the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has dealt with these expanding responsibilities for its shrinking enforcement troops has contributed to dissention among current and former wildlife officers.

A group of them launched an online petition to overturn the current administration. Their union investigated Deputy Chief of Enforcement Mike Cenci and lobbied legislators and the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to intervene.

Their main gripes: Too much emphasis on shellfish and not enough on wildlife. That, and too much work unrelated to fish or wildlife, like traffic stops or drug enforcement.

Todd Vandivert, a retired WDFW detective, has led the effort. In 2013, he self-published a book titled “Operation Cody,” detailing an undercover sting operation as well as his disdain for Cenci and the rest of the administration.

full story: http://kcts9.org/programs/wildlife-detectives/many-poachers-uncaught-lightly-punished-in-northwest

[Gopher]

No question that the worst part of the job of being a game warden is having to deal with the courts.  Work your butt off to catch the bad guys and have the case flushed down the toilet by a prosecutor or judge who doesn't have the time to deal with it or has seemingly more important things on their plate.

[trophyhunt]

I posted a story about this crap, with the help of another member and the game warden involved I should be posting the report of how bad prosecutors are about prosecuting poaching cases.

[bigtex]

There is really two issues but the root of both causes is the same, money.

#1 One of the issues is that basically every prosecutors office in WA is understaffed. So what you commonly see is cases being referred to the prosecutor and either a) the prosecutor declines to prosecute due to lack of staff/time/etc. b) the case simply goes unprosecuted and the statute of limitations expire so there's nothing the LEO or prosecutor can do.

#2 If the prosecutor does file charges the common problem then is the offering of a fantastic plea deal to the defendant (so terrible one from the LEOs view) to essentially close the case so the prosecutor can move on to another case.

I've always said in a perfect world there would be a state law that said for X amount of LEOs in a county there must be X amount of prosecutors. You can have the best LEOs in the world but if you don't have enough prosecutors to prosecute cases then your basically screwed.

On the fish & wildlife side of things, fish & wildlife fine money goes to counties and they do whatever they want with it. I've always thought it would be nice if the legislature passed a bill that allocated those monies to the counties into a county "fish and wildlife prosecution account" which each county would have then the prosecutors office could bill their time spent on fish & wildlife cases to that account. But of course you then would have people say that officers are simply writing tickets to increase the amount in the prosecution accounts. I know from most LEOs standpoint we want to make quality cases, I can go out and write petty tickets all day long but I don't get any satisfaction out of that. Some people think LEOs see no difference in a big game poaching case and a dog off leash ticket, I'm saying that 99.5% of the LEOs don't think that way. There are a couple counties in WA that have DUI prosecutors who are essentially paid by DUI grants. It all comes down to $$$.

[bearpaw]

I knew it was bad, sounds worse than I thought.

[popeshawnpaul]

Blame it on prosecutors all you want but they deal these as the general public let's them.  Some of the sloppiness police work I see is from WDFW officers.  Getting a deal is often the only way to get something on these cases.  Then the officer blames it on the prosecutor who doesn't want to put  their POS case in front of a jury that could care less.  Courts and the general public prioritize DV and DUI over fish/game cases. 

[bearpaw]

Pope, what do you think the answer is?

[trophyhunt]

I'm no lawyer but can't we help the prosecutors buy having minimum penalties in Wdfw cases?  They have maximum so why can't we have a minimum so the prosecutor can say, "sorry, this is the law and this is the minimum sentence I can give you"?  I'm talking about bigger cases like poaching, loaded weapons and what not. 

[bigtex]

I'm no lawyer but can't we help the prosecutors buy having minimum penalties in Wdfw cases?  They have maximum so why can't we have a minimum so the prosecutor can say, "sorry, this is the law and this is the minimum sentence I can give you"?  I'm talking about bigger cases like poaching, loaded weapons and what not.

Minimum penalties only apply to convictions. If the prosecutor agrees to a deal where after 6 months of good behavior the case is dismissed then no conviction. There are mandatory fines for big game poaching and some protected species, but again a conviction is required.

FYI a loaded gun case is not a "big case"

[pianoman9701]

No question that the worst part of the job of being a game warden is having to deal with the courts.  Work your butt off to catch the bad guys and have the case flushed down the toilet by a prosecutor or judge who doesn't have the time to deal with it or has seemingly more important things on their plate.

If the enforcement administration would support the wildlife officers in the field with logistical support and with getting evidence to the prosecutors this could change. But they don't. Read Operation Cody. Compared to MT and ID, WA wildlife enforcement (not the guys in the field risking their lives), is a joke.

[jmscon]

This kind of think really ticks me off! It's not like shoplifting or speeding where usually a slap on the wrists is a just punishment for the crime.

[Man Tracker]

Lots of issues here.  Many as per BT relate to money.  Over the years many wildlife and fish violations have been de-criminalized to ease the burden on courts/prosecutors.  Since they are not crimes, there are no longer warrants or jail time, just a civil fine.  Not too many years ago an officer (with a good relationship with the judge) could get a serious warrant for what were once crimes.  Courts require mandatory appearance for criminal offenses, which really causes workload issues for prosecutors who may pr may not understand wildlife and wildlife crimes.  Lots easier (?) to require a civil penalty.  Pay a fine, go on your way.

And DFW Enforcement has really increased the number of "soft money" contracts it has.  Geoduck, crab, George concert, sno-park, timber company, etc., etc.  Many of the contract are OT, which is great for officers who have them.  But some require regular hours, who can take away from patrol time.

Add to that some of the new hires do not hunt and fish, which generally means about a 5-10 year learning curve as to what and where are important.

Finally, there are very few "old timers" left in the game warden ranks.  Most have left for numerous reasons (check out WDFWinvestigations.com) Not many left to pass on the history and work ethic.  Some of the new ones are content to be "windshield wardens".  Unfortunately, both the resource and sportsmen suffer...my opinion only