HARRISBURG -- In many states the hunt is on to find "game wardens," but in Pennsylvania there is no shortage of applicants for Wildlife Conservation Officers. The problem is keeping them once they've started, said Game Commission information officer Jerry Feaser.
"For the Game Commission there are no problems in the recruitment department," Feaser said. "Last year we selected 25 candidates from among 900 applicants. Today, 23 of those 25 are enrolled in the Ross Leffler School of Conservation and should graduate in March 2008. We had two individuals leave the school for personal reasons.
"So the problem is not getting qualified people to become Wildlife Conservation Officers, the problem is keeping them once they've served for several years."
Feaser said that under a recently negotiated contract, a newly commissioned WCO will receive an annual salary of $37,201.
"By comparison, a new state police trooper will make about $10,000 more," Feaser said. "So what's happening is that after some WCOs serve for several years, they want to become state troopers. They've already had Act 120 police training and now they can add several years of law-enforcement experience to their resume. In the past year or so we've had five WCOs become state policemen. Five may not sound like a high number until you consider that we have only 136 officers in the state.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission faces a similar problem. Thomas Kamerzel, director of the Commission's Bureau of Law Enforcement, cited other reasons for what he sees as a dwindling pool of qualified applicants.
"Our newly commissioned Waterways Conservation Officers receive the same starting salary as Wildlife Conservation Officers," he said. "Although, after some years of service, a Wildlife officer may earn more that a Waterways officer. However, again, new state police troopers make about $43,000 annually, so we have some people use the Fish and Boat Commission as a stepping stone to become state troopers."
However, Kamerzel said the number of Waterways officer applicants is dwindling and cited additional factors for the lack of qualified applicants.
"In 1978 we had 6,000 people apply for 10 postions. This was good because we had a huge pool of people to select from. But in 2005, we had 360 people apply for 10 new positions. Out of those 360, about half made a decent passing score on the civil service test. So our selection was made from about 180 people.
"What we need are top quality people, and frankly, they are hard to find. You can give anyone a badge and a gun and send them out to enforce the law, but that's not what we want. We need intelligent, articulate people, who will befriend fishermen and boaters and genuinely try to help them, as well as enforce the law. We don't need or want 'gung-ho' cops. The people we need are indeed unique."
Kamerzel said the shortage of qualified applicants and the task of keeping them once hired is not unique to Pennsylvania. It is a national trend.
"Certainly one issue is pay," he said. "If we're going to hire and retain qualified, competent people we have to pay them accordingly. Applicants soon realize that when they are enforcing game or fish laws, they are often by themselves facing three or four individuals. There are other factors for Waterways officers. We are also charged with protecting reptiles and amphibians. That sometimes means handling rattlesnakes. When some applicants find out that they may have to weigh and measure a not-too-happy snake, they lose all interest in the job."
Kamerzel said another factor is that today's youth have different areas of interest than did those of his generation.
"When I was a kid we didn't have the technology we do today. We spent our time hunting and fishing and we loved it. So when an opportunity came to take a job like this, we jumped at it. That's just not the case today. Not as many youngsters are actively engaged in hunting and fishing."
Feaser and Kamerzel agree that if Pennsylvania, and other states, are going to attract and keep qualified people to fill conservation officer vacancies, salaries, benefits and retirement plans will have to be more competitive with state police and other areas of law enforcement.
Kamerzel said the Fish and Boat Commission will accept applications soon for Waterways Conservation Officers for the July 2008 class at the Stackhouse Training Facility at State College. It is a 48-week course, and cadets are paid about $29,000 a year while training, plus benefits, meals and lodging.
