Enforcement Survey

[Tman]

Done.  Some of the questions are impossible to answer without some additional information, and got a "no opinion" answer from me due to my lack of knowledge of the current system.  How is one to determine the effectiveness of the existing program without some statistics.  I personally have had very few run ins with WDFW officers. Maybe its where I hunt/fish, but I don't see them often. 

[butcher98951]

 

[bigtex]

I drove through Kittitas last Sunday and a gamie was running a speed trap in city limits. Glad he couldn't find anything better to do with his time.

WDFW Officers do not do radar enforcement. Just because he had somebody pulled over doesn't mean he was doing radar work. In fact they do not have radar guns.

Completely wrong. They have the authority to pull over drivers just like regular cops. The game warden here showed me a note from his boss saying he HAS to pull over and ticket so many people per month for a quota.no *censored* !

I never said they dont have the authority to pull over drivers!
I said they don't have radars! Read the dam statement

[bigtex]

Even if the guy wasn't "radaring" people gamies still enforce to many laws that both the city and state patrol enforcement should be enforcing.  To much of their time is wasted on non-game related enforcement.  They need to be in the woods and along the rivers catching people violating game laws not taking part in house raids on meth houses which one gamie in the past told me he did.  They are way under staffed as it is but to pull them away from enforcing game laws is ubsurd.... they need to revamp the enforcement program and i'm hoping this survey is part of that and they take into consideration the results of it. 

E-mail them more comments if needed, I did. 

It use to be that WDFW could only enforce fish and wildlife laws. However as more and more general crimes started to happen in the woods, on the rivers, and on WDFW lands, WDFW asked for and was granted general authority (basically means they can enforce all laws). It use to be if someone was doing something illegal that wasn't WDFW related (such as underage drinking, doing dope, whatever) a WDFW Officer had to all the city, county or WSP in to deal with it. However with general authority WDFW Officer are doing it themselves. The job of a "game warden" across the country is really changing, it use to be just fish and wildlife enforcement but more states are starting to operate their fish and wildlife enforcement like a regular law enforcement agency, this is probably most seen with Florida.

[Hangfire]

The local agent told me a few agents DO have radar guns. These were bought by there local county to help with special occasions, like the large concerts in Central Washington.

There job and what they run into has changed immensely. When I first started hunting agents never carried side arms. They all run into felony criminals now. A agent that was in the Washougal area a few years ago, ran into 7 separate felons with warrents in one day. (probably a record). The great outdoors offer hidding places for some of societies worst. I feel there emphasis should be fish and wildlife work. In fact I think any non wildlife pinches should be subject to review by the officers supervisor. I realize they will and should take what they find but, wildlife problems is what society wants them to work

[bigtex]

The local agent told me a few agents DO have radar guns. These were bought by there local county to help with special occasions, like the large concerts in Central Washington.

There job and what they run into has changed immensely. When I first started hunting agents never carried side arms. They all run into felony criminals now. A agent that was in the Washougal area a few years ago, ran into 7 separate felons with warrents in one day. (probably a record). The great outdoors offer hidding places for some of societies worst. I feel there emphasis should be fish and wildlife work. In fact I think any non wildlife pinches should be subject to review by the officers supervisor. I realize they will and should take what they find but, wildlife problems is what society wants them to work

A few do but only for the special events in which they are there on overtime paid for the event. For example the Gorge pays for WDFW to be there. So if it is just a general patrol day then they won't be doing radar. But WDFW does not purchase radars, and WDFW actually limits how much traffic enforcement an officer does.

[rb2506]

done   thank you

[upwind]

done

[CAMPMEAT]

I think some guys on here need anger management. They also should use spell check because you look like idiots when you try and be so righteous all the time. Grow up for cryin' out loud. Geeze !!!!!!!!   

[woodywsu]

I drove through Kittitas last Sunday and a gamie was running a speed trap in city limits. Glad he couldn't find anything better to do with his time.

WDFW Officers do not do radar enforcement. Just because he had somebody pulled over doesn't mean he was doing radar work. In fact they do not have radar guns.

Completely wrong. They have the authority to pull over drivers just like regular cops. The game warden here showed me a note from his boss saying he HAS to pull over and ticket so many people per month for a quota.no *censored* !

I never said they dont have the authority to pull over drivers!
I said they don't have radars! Read the dam statement

He didn't have somebody pulled over. He was standing outside his vehicle pointing a RADAR gun toward traffic. They perform traffic stops all the time and it is part of their job responsibility. Hopefully this survey is a step in the right direction to get our enforcement agents back to protecting fish, wildlife, and resources. The drug task force needs to be handled by other agencies. I'm tired of hearing how many pot plants our wardens are pulling and investigating for, when certain fisheries are not be enforced and wildlife are being poached.

[bobcat]

Sorry but I find it hard to believe that fish and wildlife officers are doing speed limit enforcement. If this is true we need to bombard the WDFW and possibly the governor's office with letters.

[woodywsu]

Believe me, it was painful to see.

[bigtex]

Sorry but I find it hard to believe that fish and wildlife officers are doing speed limit enforcement. If this is true we need to bombard the WDFW and possibly the governor's office with letters.

This guys (WSU) is an idiot. WDFW limits how much traffic enforcement they can do, and they only want them doing it for dangerous situations (DUIs, reckless drivers and so on). If a WDFW Officer starts pulling over speeders then they will no longer be a WDFW Officer. Most WDFW Officers don't even do DUIs

[bigtex]

I drove through Kittitas last Sunday and a gamie was running a speed trap in city limits. Glad he couldn't find anything better to do with his time.

WDFW Officers do not do radar enforcement. Just because he had somebody pulled over doesn't mean he was doing radar work. In fact they do not have radar guns.

Completely wrong. They have the authority to pull over drivers just like regular cops. The game warden here showed me a note from his boss saying he HAS to pull over and ticket so many people per month for a quota.no *censored* !

I never said they dont have the authority to pull over drivers!
I said they don't have radars! Read the dam statement

He didn't have somebody pulled over. He was standing outside his vehicle pointing a RADAR gun toward traffic. They perform traffic stops all the time and it is part of their job responsibility. Hopefully this survey is a step in the right direction to get our enforcement agents back to protecting fish, wildlife, and resources. The drug task force needs to be handled by other agencies. I'm tired of hearing how many pot plants our wardens are pulling and investigating for, when certain fisheries are not be enforced and wildlife are being poached.

Traffic stops are not part of their responsibility, can they do it? Yes, but they are limited by policy as to how mcuh they do it because fish and wildlife is their agency mission, not traffic. Read any WDFW report, it says the same thing!

Are you sure it wasn't a Kittitas County Deputy doing the speed enforcement? WDFW and Kittitas SO trucks looks very similar

[JLS]

.  I remember his dad would do things like all night stakeouts, deer decoys--had a robot deer, following fishermen with night vision...

How do you know they still don't?

If it's acceptable to refer to them as "gamies", is it acceptable for the enforcement officers to refer to us sportsmen as "bubbas", or "hunting slobs", or whatever funny moniker they come up with?