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Is this a good thing?
Will this help an understaffed, over worked border patrol when others working the border get trained to fight the crime at the borders?
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Game wardens entering new territory
51 cadets graduate in largest class ever, trained to fight crime in wilderness and along border.
By Danny Yadron

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Libby Balusek graduated from Texas A&M University in 2007 with a degree in wildlife conservation science.

On Tuesday, after seven months of training, the 24-year-old became a Texas game warden, a job that will take her to Cameron County, where she will help keep an eye out for illegal immigration and drug trafficking, as well as the usual plethora of environmental crimes associated with the position.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department graduated 51 game warden cadets Tuesday, the largest class ever. Part of the reason for that is the state needs more boots on the ground to keep up with Gov. Rick Perry’s effort to increase border security, Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Lydia Saldaña said.

It’s not the department’s main job, but cadets get enough training in law enforcement to deal with border issues, or at least to hold a suspect until an officer from another agency arrives, said Col. Peter Flores, director of the game warden program.

"We’re not in the immigration business. … We’re not in the narcotics business," Flores said. "We operate in areas no one else does."

Wardens, traditionally tasked with looking out for illegal hunting, fishing or other environmental crimes, are often in charge of huge tracts of Texas wilderness, as well as the state’s Gulf Coast.

As Perry continues to lobby Washington for a greater military presence on the U.S.-Mexico border, game wardens have become sort of all-purpose law enforcement agents, detaining boats with illegal nets that happen to have drugs on board, or arresting ranch trespassers who happen to lack U.S. identification, Flores said.

There are 15 full-time game wardens posted on the border, and the state Legislature commissioned another 15 this session, Saldaña said. That’s in addition to about 100 wardens that the state sent to the area last week as part of a multiagency border patrol surge, Flores said. Texas has about 500 game wardens.

Since late 2007, the state has used hundreds of game wardens to help patrol the border area as part of Operation Border Star, a Perry spokeswoman said. As members point out, the position has always been about multitasking, but Tuesday’s ceremony demonstrated how the title "game warden" is now something of a cross between Eagle Scout and state trooper.

"We get into more stuff now than we can keep up with," said Capt. Fred Churchill, head of a six-county district, including Travis County. "They gotta train for a lot."

The governor acknowledged the job’s demands Tuesday, as he inducted the newly minted game wardens with a short speech and a handshake.

"You take a calculated but necessary risk for the rest of us," Perry said. "We need you now more than ever."

Drew Spencer, 31, who is headed to Starr County, said the looming task doesn’t phase him. "I’m going to resort to my training," said Spencer, who used to work as a game warden in New Mexico. "This is truly the best job in the world."

wonderful idea. maybe this will stop illegals from coming in. and hopefully the govt will let them do their jobs the way they was trained to do the. i love this idea. thanks for sharing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 4:51 am and is filed under law enforcement narcotics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.