Enforcement Survey

[bigtex]

You guys should check out this report. It shows that many WDFW Officers have the same views/feelings about what they should be doing as us:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/pub.php?id=00522

[woodywsu]

Were you there? No. It was a 'gamie'. His truck was covered in mud and he had a 4-wheeler in the back. I know what the wardens drive as I work with several of them.

[bigtex]

Were you there? No. It was a 'gamie'. His truck was covered in mud and he had a 4-wheeler in the back. I know what the wardens drive as I work with several of them.

I'm just saying, Kittitas County has several deputies that do "forest patrol" and drive similar vehicles, inlcuding ATV's

[bigtex]

Ok I have the patrol hours that WDFW did in 2007.

•   43.8% of patrol hours were spent on fishery patrols (anything from a lake/stream to the ocean)
•   27.9% on wildlife patrols
•   9.2% on shellfish patrols
•   5.5% on WDFW lands patrol
•   2% on habitat patrol
•   10.3% on public safety issues which includes ATV enforcement, snowmobile enforcement, boating enforcement, WDFW access areas enforcement, assisting other law enforcement agencies, participating in hunter ed classes, hunting accident investigation, traffic laws, and other criminal laws

[Cougeyes]

I know that the game wardens aren't choosing to go on drug busts, patrol snow parks etc... or else they would have signed up with a different agency.  Well I hope that the staffing survey in 2008 and this public survey and any comments they receive will further the chances of game wardens to pursue what they most likely got into this field for protecting game/fish by enforcing laws set forth for that very reason.  I as many others probably were not aware that they get grants to conduct these various tasks and i understand that they must go forward with these duties, but more and more they are getting pulled in the wrong direction and more often the degrees of game wardens are mostly criminal justice and not fisheries or wildlife.  State patrolmen and other agency officers are retiring and jumping ship into game warden positions with very little to no wildlife experience.  And this is first hand knowledge coming from a senior enforcement officer that saw this first hand when a retired state patrolmen turned game officer found a dead bird on the road and was calling it a hawk when in fact it was a grouse.  Others can't even identify a salmon from a steelhead, this becomes problematic when they go to write tickets for something they can't even identify and the "violoater" argues he caught the right species and then gets slapped for more violations.

Game officers need more training and need to quit being involved in searching for pot plantations, taking part in drug busts etc.... I do agree though that if they are the closest officer to any crime such as domestic disturbance calls, shootings, anything else then they should always respond.  But as far as writing traffic violations on rural county roads or in city limits....leave that to city and state patrolmen.  There are many criminals in the woods that never get caught and our fish and wildlife resources are more important than writing traffic citations.

[grundy53]

Good thing bigtex is here to straighten everybody out. Since he wasn't there he obviously knows.... good thing he's on this site. Just imagine how uninformed we would be with out him. Since he's not ignorant they everyone else on here...

[woodywsu]

I would like to see the patrol hours for 2010. Over the past several years, pot grows have increased significantly (at least in Eastern Washington). And I agree that these drugs need removed from WDFW lands, but WDFW needs more funding/staff/help doing it so they can free themselves up to protect the states fish and wildlife resources.

[bigtex]

more often the degrees of game wardens are mostly criminal justice and not fisheries or wildlife.  State patrolmen and other agency officers are retiring and jumping ship into game warden positions with very little to no wildlife experience.

Under the old fisheries and wildlife department days officers needed to have some type of natural resource degree. The departments merged and the number of applicants started to decrease, so they allowed criminal justice degrees. Now they can’t get enough applicants so any type of degree will qualify you to be a WDFW Officer, they just prefer natural resources degrees or criminal justice. There just really aren’t that many people who pursue natural resource degrees and those who do want to be biologists, not officers.

It use to be that everyone wanted to be a game warden, and 2k people would apply for 2 jobs, now WDFW can have 10 open positions and maybe 100 people would apply. This is sad because WDFW is considered to be the best natural resource law enforcement agency in the country. WDFW has the strictest requirements of any law enforcement agency in the state.

[woodywsu]

This is sad because WDFW is considered to be the best natural resource agency in the country.

No, that is sad that WDFW is considered to be the best natural resource agency in the county.

For christ sakes, WDFW's data is so bad, they have to set our waterfowl season on other state's data (quote from Mikal Moore, WDFW waterfowl biologist).

[WDFW-SUX]

WDFW is considered to be the best natural resource agency in the country

 

[bigtex]

Sorry I meant to say:

WDFW is considered to be the best natural resource law enforcement agency in the country.

[WDFW-SUX]

Not true, and its not even close.

[woodywsu]

 

I would like to know who?

[bigtex]

Not true, and its not even close.

According to whom? Pick up any law enforcement publication and they will say the same thing. Best pay, scheduling, equipment, and benefits in the country. WDFW has gotten a hand full of game wardens from several other states coming to WDFW in the past two years

[WDFW-SUX]

Im talking about job performance not bloated government union pay & benefits. We all know how corrupt the state employees union is....

Im glad we can pay 100 bucks for hunting pheasants so they can have nice trucks to drive...