COALITION OF CONNECTICUT SPORTSM

COALITION OF CONNECTICUT SPORTSMEN

P.O. Box 2506, Hartford, CT 06146, (203) 245-8076

Testimony presented to the ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE, February 27, 2008

IN SUPPORT of S. B. No. 371 (RAISED) AN ACT INCREASING MINIMUM STAFFING LEVELS FOR DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION CONSERVATION OFFICERS.

by Robert T. Crook, Director

During the last decade DEP Law Enforcement manpower levels have suffered significantly. There is great and justified concern among outdoor enthusiasts that the conservation law enforcement division is not capable of adequately enforcing current law. We consider DEP Environmental Conservation Police (ECP) manpower a current emergency and a future disaster unless the Legislature acts.

A significant increase has taken place in numbers of Registered boats, Regulated hunting areas, Acreage owned by the state, Fishing management program areas, and Park attendance. Previously separate specialized elements (Park Police, Marine Patrol, and Conservation Officers) have been combined into one element now called Environmental Police, with a serious loss overall staffing and expertise due to multiple roles. Current procedure is to shift the remaining officers to seasonal roles (Hunting in the Fall/Spring, Fishing year round, Boating in Spring/Summer, Parks during the season) and assign officers to extensive areas consisting of 8-14 municipalities. Expansion of other police duties (drugs, Homeland Security, motor vehicle profiling, ATV, shellfish, and increased specialized training requirements, etc.) has further reduced conservation law enforcement. The continued inadequate staffing of officers also significantly impacts upon other DEP conservation/recreational support elements through complaints, questions, lawsuits, and promotes legislative actions that may have been avoided.

In 1993, the Governor’s Task force on Hunting and Public Safety reviewed hunting and public safety and recommended the number of DEP conservation officers be increased from 49 to 75. Since then the force has averaged 55. In the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee 2006 report, the number suggested by their formula is 65. “A basic incident based staffing model suggests that the number of EnCon police offices is inadequate.” Additionally, by the end of the year 2010, more than a dozen of the 55 officers in the ECP will be eligible to retire. Further, in the new Conservation Enforcement Officer job series, in order to reach the class of CEO each candidate must serve as trainee for 6 to 12 months and Agency Police Officer for a minimum of 18 months to a maximum of 3 1/2years, depending on prior experience at time of hire. In effect, the Legislature is far behind NOW since implementation of a plan to hire officers as much as 2 years in advance of anticipated retirements is required.

In many of the 11,184 incidents reported to or handled by the ECP in 2005 there was no officer available to respond due to insufficient staffing levels - “nearly all EnCon ‘customers’ contacted by program review staff expressed some level of dissatisfaction with the level of service provided by the EnCon police related to staffing.”

According to both The Governor’s Task Force and the Program Review data, ECP numbers are obviously inadequate to achieve any level of reasonable enforcement. Without action NOW environmental law enforcement becomes a farce and the laws written immaterial.

Sportsmen have promoted similar bills for several years. We urge your support to forstall totally inadequate enforcement.

Thank you.