Last week we were all made aware of the fact that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game was under investigation for supposed misuse of state equipment, among other things. The investigation was being conducted by Confidential Investigations and you can actually review the findings of that investigation by visiting their website here.

The investigation reveals what most of us would consider a laundry list of questionable actions by the IDFG. Those actions involve what some would interpret as the misuse and abuse of state property, questionable to poor decisions in allowing family on patrol with wildlife wardens, use of state-owned cabins on state-owned land, treatment of the public by wildlife officials and other assorted actions that leaves Idaho residents wondering how deep this may go.

It is my understanding from reviewing the investigation, that what was investigated was only one small area of the Department of Fish and Game’s entire state operation. And within this area, we’re exposed to the actions of a very small number of state employees in comparison to the hundreds that exist. In short, we have no idea whether what has been brought to our attention is relegated to just this area or runs much deeper and wide spread than we know. Let’s hope it’s not.

Bearing in mind that what anyone can find out in reading Confidential Investigations’ report is only one side of the story. I don’t believe that the state of Idaho has had sufficient time to investigate for themselves and respond to the things they are being accused of. The investigation, if nothing else, raises a lot of questions, while answering very few. The people of Idaho now are looking for answers.

CI claims they have photos that reveal that an ATV assigned to one wildlife officer was left outside buried in the snow all winter, that pick up trucks owned by the state were used to haul landscaping rocks, that children of officers accompanied them on patrol on snowmobiles, boats and in other equipment. The report says that family and friends accompanied wildlife officials and used camps owned by fish and game that are supposed to be used for housing officers while on duty. The list goes on.

Confidential Investigations says that in copies of reports and emails they’ve uncovered show a lot of disrespect for the public in general and the use of certain inappropriate names as part of investigations. It claims thousands of dollars have been spent on operations supposedly geared to catching “bad guys”.

What is not clear to us is what is department/state policy in regards to the events that Confidential Investigations uncovered? For example, the report claims that it is department policy that trucks can’t be used to haul firewood for personal use but there is no stipulation about hauling rocks.

We also don’t seem to know what the policies are on use of cabins and taking family out on patrol. If there is no certain policy about these and other things, isn’t it time Idaho crafted some for obvious reasons?

Whether the abuses we are hearing about are limited to this one small area or state wide, it needs to be addressed. Every state fish and game department in this Union has an immense public relations nightmare. In my travels online from four corners of the country and stops in between, I seldom run into people who have an undying love affair for their state’s fish and game department and/or their game warden service. Quite the contrary. When residents become exposed to things like this, it is no wonder the wedge of dislike and distrust gets pounded deeply between license holder and wildlife official.

In Idaho, the fish and game department is seeking a substantial fee increase. A vocal group has come out in opposition to the increase, citing reasons why the IDFG is not spending the money they have wisely and appropriately. It is no surprise an investigation was launched to look into some of the accusations.

It doesn’t matter which side you might come down on with this issue, we have to welcome the scrutiny. If the things we learned about in the investigation are true, then let’s get to work and clean it up now. We need also to find out how wide spread this is and deal with it. The last thing that should happen right now is to give IDFG any increase in money until questions have been answered.

One part of CI’s investigation deals with how certain wildlife officers handled investigations and operations. In one specific operation, one that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars and yielded virtually nothing in return, according to the investigation, email exchanges showed that officers described Idaho citizens as “bad guys” or “good guys” and spoke of a “well oiled machine and going out to kick some ass”.

Let’s not be naive here. Many of us have been in discussions like this and have used terms and descriptive elements to describe the moment but this is in a public domain and actually is a reflection, I believe, on the leadership of this arm of the department or higher up.

I recall one time I attended a gathering in Maine of State Police and Maine State Game Wardens. The gathering was a cookout and bonfire after a long day of seminars, etc. at one of Maine’s training sites. I attended the cookout and bonfire by invitation.

After the cookout many of us were sitting around the fire. Off to my right a small group of young men, a mixture of police and wardens, were having a discussion of which I overheard most of it. It was much like what we read about here. Attitudes were awful toward the taxpayers who pay them for their service and certain descriptive names were used as well. I remember at that time thinking to myself, “Geez! No wonder the general public hates these people.”

Many of the problems that seem to exist within at least this portion of the IDFG, can be remedied with good sound policy. It has to be policy that is in the best interest of the people of Idaho. Equipment purchase has to be justified and properly cared for. You can’t simply issue a wildlife officer a piece of machinery worth thousands of dollars without ensuring it will be well cared for.

Who gets to use cabins? If it is a perk of the job for officials and they families, then so be it but it has to be done legally, at least pertaining to claims for tax purposes and answers personal injury and property liability issues.

Taking children on patrol and allowing them access to state cabins has to be a real liability issue.

This report gives us a look into what appears to be some pretty loosely run operations at fish and game but as I said, most of them can be rectified with policy changes or clarifications. But the attitude of wildlife officers in the field and how they deal with the public, as well as intelligent decisions on the implementation of investigative operations, has to be a reflection of upper management. Yes, there will always be a few employees that cop attitudes but even if this is not wide spread, it is deadly venom and needs to be corrected immediately.

Like with many publicly paid positions in this country, the attitude seems to have evolved into one of confusing who works for whom. Wildlife officials in any state serve for the taxpayers of that state and the taxpayers and license holders have to be treated with the utmost of respect. It begins at the highest levels, from the governor on down. If they don’t see things this way, then every four years you and I can do something about that.

I pointed out before and I’ll do it one more time. In Idaho, no increase in license fees should be granted to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game until all the questions in the investigation are answered to the satisfaction of the people.

Tom Remington

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