Warden Tales: Law 'em All

I had the good fortune of having lunch with wildlife officers on two occasions this past week.  It was nice to catch up on current events within the agency and division.  More importantly, it was nice to just to spend time with those guys.  I miss the comradery of being a wildlife officer.

As always seems to be the case when officers get together, we swapped a few “war” stories.  While the characters change and locations are different, the stories generally take on a similar script: (1) the officer faces an unusual situation or challenge; (2) the officer is forced to take a “creative” action; (3) the action succeeds or fails; (4) the officer walks away with new knowledge.

not George Ford and or dove hunters

The other common theme is “how we did it in the old days” stories.  I recall an older officer, George Ford, telling me about working in the early 1970s when he would park his car on the opening day of dove season in Surry County and walk from field to field checking hunters all day.  Or officers that would load up during the short deer season and only swing by their homes long enough to restock their supplies of sardines and beanie weinies, and hopefully grab a hot breakfast before going out again.  I fell into a “good ole days” story yesterday at lunch.

I went to work with the Commission on Wednesday May 1, 1985.  There were three of us from my recruit class in that patrol area at that time.  So, our sergeant, Travis Whitson, was spread pretty thin with a bunch of green officers.  That weekend, my captain, Ben Wade, came over to work with me on Santeetlah Lake.  I was ill prepared in general, having only three weeks of preservice training and three days of on the job training.  I had never operated a motorboat before that day.

Ranger Station (Massey Branch) Boating Access Area today
www.ncwildlife.org/Boating/Wheretoboat

We launched the boat at Massey Branch Boating Access Area and began our patrol.  We checked a couple of boats and soon found one in violation.  Capt. Wade was doing most of the talking at the point – I didn’t know the boat law at all.  Capt. Wade informed the boaters that they were in violation of what I found out later was normally a warning offense.  He turned to me and asked for a warning ticket.  I fumbled around in my pack and realized that I didn’t have any.  

He turned back to the boater and informed him that we would be issuing him a citation that carried a fine.  After we finished and pulled away, I apologized for not having any warning citations.  He told me not to worry about it.  He explained that we issue warnings as a courtesy but it wasn't mandatory.  We would just issue regular citations that day - no big deal.

And that’s what we did.  We wrote 7 or 8 tickets that day.  Later when we met some of the other officers, they asked how we did (meaning “How many have you wrote?”).  We told them the number and said about half should have been warnings but we didn’t have any.  So, we had let everyone “hold a hard ticket.”  The other officers just shrugged it off - the boaters were breaking the law.

When I think back on that today, I’m a little embarrassed.  And it wasn’t just that day.  The prevailing guidance was that we would deliver fair, firm and impartial law enforcement.  Most of us took that for how it was meant – if someone is violating the law we let them hold one – no matter the circumstances.  "Law them all and let the courts sort it out."  Ben Wade was not a heartless guy - he was a good captain who was doing what was expected of him and communicating those expectations to a new officer.  I recall another incident when I checked a mother out fishing with her children on Mother’s Day.  She didn’t have a fishing license and protested that she didn't know she needed one.  Her gear reinforced that argument.  But without much thought, I cited her as her small kids looked on.  I reasoned that a good Mother’s Day gift would have been a fishing license.

That was the culture back then.  We were funded almost solely by sportsmen’s dollars so there was a near zero tolerance for anyone that violated the wildlife laws.  That made for a pretty simple, black and white sort of job.  Nowadays we ask officers to look at the totality of the circumstances and then take what they determine to be the appropriate law enforcement action.  That is much more subjective approach but overall the public is treated better when each incident is evaluated on its own.  And in the long run, the conservation benefit is stronger than before.

We often grumble about how disrespectful the public is of law enforcement officers.  The fact is, many of us have contributed to that perception.  We sometimes justify our actions by blaming it on the culture (like I did in the previous paragraph).  Other times we use the end justifies the means argument.  My personal favorite was that any criminal activity leads to a breakdown of social order.  So, by writing that ticket to an unsuspecting, pseudo-sportsman, I was saving society - sounds rather dramatic when I say it now. 

There’s not a whole lot of things I would change about my career – I had a great ride.  I met many interesting people, saw some fascinating places and caught some violators that threatened public safety or were harming the resources.  I was reminded this week that I had fun doing it with a great bunch of officers.  But, I would like to have a do-over with that mom on Mother’s Day.