Dire and Sequestered Meetings: The Work of Game Wardens

Abstract

Game wardens are law enforcement agents responsible for enforcing fish and wildlife laws. Based on data from extensive interviews with game wardens the authors describe dangerous situations faced by wardens in their work. Comparisons with the dangers experienced by other types of police officers are made. Temporal, spatial, and situational factors shape the uniqueness of the law enforcement experiences of the game warden. Specific factors found which increase dangerousness were: isolation of area, being outnumbered, being alone, mistakes like not wearing hunter's orange, and not being aware an offender is under the influence. In addition, most if not all individuals encountered are armed and skilled in the use of deadly weapons.

Deterring Defiance: 'Don’t Give a Poacher a Reason to Poach'

“…Like other forms of police work, conservation law enforcement is hazardous (Forsyth & Forsyth 2009;Forsyth & Marckese 1993b;Palmer & Bryant 1985;Walsh & Donovan 1984). The general law enforcement responsibilities among wardens contribute to assault rates 2.5 times those of state police; this danger compels them to draw a firearm 4 times the rate of state police (Carter 2004).…”

“…Although neither poaching nor conservation law enforcement is confined to rural areas; it is largely regarded as a rural crime. And while most game wardens come from rural areas (Palmer & Bryant 1985;Sherblom et al 2002), some researchers claim these wardens better understand rural tradition, enabling them to use discretion more wisely (Forsyth and Forsyth 2009). Discretion is an important part of conservation law enforcement because establishing intent (mens rea) may be difficult in poaching cases. State and federal laws vary within a state, region, or area; therefore, suspected poachers often claim they did not know the law where they were issued a summons (Eliason 2003).…”

What’s in a Name? The Occupational Identity of Conservation and Natural Resource Oriented Law Enforcement Agencies

“…Over the last 20 years, research on conservation/natural resource policing has intensified and expanded to include issues related to the dangerousness of the job (Carter, 2004;Eliason, 2011;Forsyth, 1993Forsyth, , 2008aForsyth & Forsyth, 2009), differences in officers (Forsyth 1994), discretion (Carter, 2006;Forsyth & Forsyth, 2012), use of force (Patten, 2012;Patten & Caudill, 2013), job stress (Oliver & Meier, 2006), and job satisfaction (Eliason, 2006). There are also a number of studies that examine poaching and other wildlife crimes (Crow et al, 2013;Forsyth, 2008aForsyth, , 2008bForsyth & Forsyth, 2010;Forsyth, Gramling, & Wooddell, 1998).…”

Britain and the beginning of Scotland

“…This has led Katherine Forsyth to suggest that 'it is tempting to see the contrasting monumental traditions of southern Scotland and Pictland-Latin-inscriptions versus symbol stones-as an epigraphic manifestation of a mutual desire to distinguish themselves from one another'. 127 Pictish distinctiveness continued after the 7th century: Forsyth has calculated that about 15 per cent of monuments in England had runes, less than 1 per cent in Ireland used Ogham, whereas Latin letters were the rule in Wales. Pictland, by contrast, stands out for its 'marked preference there for non-roman script'.…”