Enforcement

Transcript for The Making of a Wildlife Manager Part 1

Speaker: They’re scientists with sidearms, biologists with a badge. You might know them as game wardens; but at Arizona Game and Fish, they’re wildlife managers [WM].

Female AZGFD Wildlife Manager (turns toward a large owl perched nearby): That is a baby, believe it or not.

Speaker: It’s their job to conserve and protect Arizona’s wildlife—more than 800 species—and to enforce laws that help keep you safe in the great outdoors. It’s a profession unlike any other—one that requires a tremendous amount of training and a special set of skills.

Male AZGFD Wildlife Manager (speaks to a room of wildlife manager recruits): Congratulations to you guys! We are absolutely glad to have you here.

Speaker: This is a new class of recruits. It’s their first day on the job, and we’re about to follow their long and challenging journey to see just what goes into the making of a wildlife manager.

On-screen: The Making of a Wildlife Manager

Jim Hinkle: I’m a little emotional. I’m sorry. I’m at the end of my career, seeing you guys starting yours.

Speaker: Seeing these WM recruits at the start of their careers brings a wave of nostalgia to Jim Hinkle. After a 29-year career, his retirement is just weeks away.

Jim Hinkle, Arizona Game & Fish Department: I started out thinking I was going to be a wildlife biologist. And it was when I learned about the wildlife manager position—that you not only got to be a professional wildlife biologist, but you also got to be a fully commissioned Arizona peace officer where you could enforce laws, protect wildlife, help people in the out-of-doors. Well, it just put the package all together.

Jim Hinkle: …even though you get spread all out all over…

Jim Hinkle: It was far more than what I expected—much more difficult, much more challenging but far more rewarding.

Male Speaker 1: OK, so that all works out.

So, this is the large?

Female Speaker: Would you get two?

Male Speaker 2: Yeah, I’ve got two medium.

Male Speaker 1: These are your dress shirts. You’re going to be putting them over. You need your body armor as well. So they’ll need to fit a little bit—they’ll need to fit a little bit loose. OK.

Speaker: Week one at Arizona Game and Fish headquarters in Phoenix is all about getting ready for what lies ahead.

Zach Coffman, Arizona Game & Fish Department: Yeah, they’ll run you a bit and have you PT before that happens.

Speaker: The first critical step is making it through 18 weeks of police academy training, which starts in just a couple of days.

Zach Coffman: Yeah, definitely nervous. It’s been quite a process getting here, and I’m really thankful to have made it to this point. But really nervous about the unknown and the known ahead.

Cody Johnston, Arizona Game & Fish Department: I’m nervous, to be honest with you. I think it’s a good thing to be nervous.

Nate Foley, Arizona Game & Fish Department: I’m excited; I’m nervous. I’m starting to have strange dreams about it at night.

Laura Orscheln, Arizona Game & Fish Department: Nervous, but excited—those are the predominant things. Very excited. This is the first step in the career that I’ve wanted for a long time. I started wanting to do this when I was 17 years old, and it’s finally here. So, I’m excited.

Ryan Randall, Arizona Game & Fish Department: A little stressed. I know it’s going to be tough. These four months will be probably pretty slow passing by. Maybe at the end, I’ll think differently; but right now, it’s a long haul coming up.

Jim Hinkle: The anxiety and anticipation of not knowing what you were facing and knowing that you were going into a paramilitary environment where they were going to break you down to build you up and turn you into a professional law enforcement, it was exciting and fearsome all at the same time.

Barry Austin, Arizona Game & Fish Department: There’s mixed emotions. I’m extremely excited, but I’m very nervous. I feel like physically, I’m ready; but there’s always that little part that at 45 years old, is my body going to hold up and be able to endure to the end on this?

Dennis Fogle, Arizona Game & Fish Department: My expectations are it’s going to be brutal. It’s going to hurt physically and mentally.

Danielle Klaas, Arizona Game & Fish Department: Lots of excitement, lots of nervousness, but I can’t wait. I’m ready to start. We’re all ready to go.

Barry Austin: Enough talk. Let’s go to work. That’s how I feel. I’m ready to dig in.

Jeff Newnum: Before we get started for Class 39, there’s a couple of things I want to go over.

Speaker: It’s Monday, August 3, day 1 at NARTA, the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy located on the Prescott Valley campus of Yavapai College.

Jeff Newnum: It all hinges on having a servant’s heart.

Speaker: After his welcoming statements, Academy Commander Captain Jeff Newnum of the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office reminds the trainees that everything they do here is done for a purpose. Then, he introduces their drill sergeants.

Male Speaker 3: Get on your feet.

Male Speaker 4: What is wrong with you?

Male Speaker 3: Why are you looking around, freak?

Male Speaker 4: What are you looking at? Get on your feet, and quit looking around.

Male Speaker 3: I’m not here to be your friend, your buddy, or anything. I’m here to train you.

Male Speaker 4: You see somebody walking down the hallway, instructor—

Danielle Klaas: Nothing prepares you for that moment when the doors fly open, and people are screaming at you. And you’re like, oh, gosh, please don’t look at me, please don’t look at me, please don’t look at me.

Nate Foley: Obviously, the beginning is not so much fun.

Male Speaker 3: The first and last word will be “sir” or “ma’am.” Do you understand that?

Audience: Sir, yes, sir.

Male Speaker 3: Louder.

Audience: Sir, yes, sir.

Male Speaker 3: Louder.

Audience: Sir, yes, sir.

Jim Hinkle: You can hear stories, you can be told about it; but there is no substitute for experiencing it, and to realize that, literally, your professional career—your income for your life—hangs on the balance of surviving and passing and doing well. And so, to wash out means I’ve got to find another career field.

Male Speaker 3: Make no mistake about it, people. This is an intense training program. You got to earn it, people. And that starts right now. Is that clear?

Audience: Sir, yes, sir.

Male Speaker 3: And you will be held to a higher standard. Sergeant Kite, will you please get these people out of my classroom?

Speaker 3: …not hack it here…cannot hack it out in the real world…

Nate Foley: A lot things being said, but one which just keeps sticking with me is embrace the suck. And I think that’s going to be really applicable to the next four months alive.

Speaker 3: Up and down, up and down.

Sergeant Corey Kasun, Prescott Police Department: Those first few weeks, we test them. Because the simple fact is some people were meant to be cops, and some people were meant to call cops. And if they can’t handle that amount of stress in a controlled environment, then they’re going to crumble in the real world. And that’s not a bad thing to find that out. That’s the place to find that out is in that controlled environment. So, it’s tough.

Danielle Klaas: I think I’m going to get my butt kicked pretty good. But I think that I have to look at it like this time is the time in my career where I’m going to be learning so much valuable information. It’s going to make me a better person. It’s going to make me a better police officer.

Jeff Newnum: The reputation of thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.

Cody Johnston: I expect it’s going to be hard. And I expect that we’re all going to be tried no matter what, no matter how fit we are, no matter how well we are at academics. I know we’re going to be tried.

Male Speaker 4: Hurry up! Go! Go!

Cody Johnston: I expect to be tried because the more you try, the better you will be. As long as we all work hard and get everything done, then we’ll be fine.

Barry Austin: It’s going to take this group—we’re really going to bond through this experience. And I think one of the main things that’s going to get us through is sticking together and becoming a team.

Speaker: For 18 weeks, the trainees are tested—in the classroom, on the track, and in the gym.

Male Speaker 4: Get geared up right here at this table.

Speaker: Sometimes, learning what it takes to be a police officer requires doing things the hard way.

Nate Foley: Back, get back.

Male Speaker 5: You’re going to get sprayed in the face.

Speaker: Like taking a blast of pepper spray to the face and somehow managing to fight through the pain in order to stop the assailant.

Male Speaker 6: Where’s he going?

Male Speaker 7: Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Male Speaker 6: Good job. Keep an eye on him.

Male Speaker 8: Requesting backup.

Male Speaker 7: Oh, dammit.

Male Speaker 6: It’s all water now.

Male Speaker 9: That helps. That takes them out.

Speaker: Through it all, these recruits have become physically and mentally strong.

They’ve united as a team and discovered what it means to enforce the law courageously, ethically, and compassionately.

Speaker: After 18 long weeks, the NARTA Academy comes to an end.

Zach Coffman: It seems like yesterday we were still in our black and whites, honestly. I can’t believe it’s already here.

Speaker: There’s one final inspection and a graduation ceremony that takes place Saturday, December 3, at Yavapai College in Prescott.

Sergeant Corey Kasun: Congratulations! It has truly been my honor to be your class sergeant, to watch you grow, to watch you succeed. I’m proud of each and every one of you. I’m proud of you for your hard work, your dedication, and the level of resolve that you’ve shown in making it here today. There is absolutely no doubt that you’ve earned it.

Laura Orscheln, NARTA Class 39 President (AZGFD): This job is all about having a servant’s heart, a warrior spirit and a servant’s heart. And service to the people of our community and service to our brothers is really why we’re all here. And that’s what it’s all about.

Male Speaker 10: The graduates will now file outside to the front of the building for the badge-pinning ceremony. They will line up in their squads for family members and others to pin badges on the new officers.

Barry Austin: I kept up with those younger guys. Lots of Advil, lots of ibuprofen.

Sergeant Corey Kasun: They’re simply crossing the threshold into their career. So, our job is to give them the basic knowledge, officer safety, presence, to know the inner workings of criminal justice system—that kind of stuff—and how to apply it. And then they go learn their job from their agencies.

Zach Coffman: I know.

Danielle Klaas: Sergeant Kasun and that academy turned me into something that I didn’t even know that I could be. And those 18 weeks are—I was telling my family after graduation, I spent 5 and a half years in college, and I’m more proud of those 18 weeks that I spent at the police academy. It just it changes you. It’s really an amazing process.

On screen: More to come on Part Two: “The Making of a Wildlife Manager”

Speaker: They’re not done yet. For a look at the next six months of training, join us for Part 2 of “The Making of a Wildlife Manager.”

Transcript for The Making of a Wildlife Manager Part 2

Speaker: This is the story of eight wildlife manager recruits for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The last time we saw them, they had just finished four long months of police academy training.

Male Speaker 1: Get up! Faster!

Nate Foley, Arizona Game & Fish Department: Overall, it was awesome.

Laura Orscheln, Arizona Game & Fish Department: The most fun I never want to have again.

Nate Foley: I wouldn’t be too excited if someone told me I had to do it again right now.

Speaker: They got strong, got smart; and they got pepper-sprayed.

Cody Johnston, Arizona Game & Fish Department: It hurt a lot. It’s terrible. It’s like a thousand needles that are lava in your eye, you know.

Male Speaker 2: Want water?

Cody Johnston: I need water now.

Male Speaker 2: OK.

Cody Johnston: So, it’s bad. It’s really bad.

Speaker: Just two days after graduating from the police academy, these newly commissioned peace officers make an appearance at the Arizona Game and Fish Commission meeting in Phoenix. Wearing perfectly pressed uniforms and shiny new badges, they’re ready to take the next step in the making of a wildlife manager.

On screen: The Making of a Wildlife Manager

Larry D. Voyles: I…

All Recruits (together): I…

Larry D. Voyles: …do solemnly swear or affirm…

All Recruits (together): …do solemnly swear or affirm…

Jim Hinkle, Arizona Game & Fish Department:That is a fabulous moment for them because they know they still have another six months of training left to go. But the biggest hurdle is getting through the academy and getting that state peace officer certification. So, to see them standing up in front of the commission with their shiny uniforms on, wearing their sidearms in public and their badges, that is a magical moment. And that means they have really arrived. They’re halfway there.

Larry D. Voyles: You’re a wildlife manager…

Laura Orscheln: Thank you very much, sir.

Jim Hinkle: Our wildlife managers are equivalent to what most eastern states call the game warden. The minimum job requirement is a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife biology or a close equivalent. We’re hiring you as a professional wildlife biologist. We are turning you, through training, into a wildlife manager that includes being a commissioned game ranger.

Male Speaker 3: This morning’s scenarios, I told you, are both javelina hunt–related. They’re two different situations, but they’re both occurring during the javelina hunt.

Ken Dinquel, Arizona Game & Fish Department: They’ve had approximately three months of classroom training now. And this week out here, we call it ARTS week, and that stands for Arizona Ranger Training Session.

Male Speaker 3: Get to your vehicles, get your pairs, whatever, and then your evaluators will come pick you up over there as soon as we’re ready.

Ken Dinquel: We come out to Horseshoe Ranch for a week with a bunch of role players and evaluators. We come out, we set up mock scenarios of common types of contacts that a wildlife manager would encounter in the field.

The scenarios we do out here go the whole spectrum, from just a simple fishing contact to a dove hunter contact to a javelina season. ARTS week really covers the wildlife aspect of the job.

Dee Pfleger, Arizona Game & Fish Department: We have to remember when these officers get hired on, they almost immediately go into the police academy. And they’re surrounded strictly by law enforcement officers. And they’re learning a lot of the skills that it takes to be a good law enforcement officer, and most of that is framed from the perspective of being on a street as a street patrol officer.

What we’re doing here at ARTS is we’re taking them from that point and taking them to the next evolution, which is what is it to be a game warden—a wildlife manager in Arizona.

Male Speaker 4: I saw this gentleman—kind of older guy. He is in his—I would say probably 50s—he was on the north side of the road. And I noticed that he was loading up javelina on the back.

Dee Pfleger: The scenario that we were evaluating this morning was a OGT call—Operation Game Thief. And it’s our anti-poaching line where, if people see a wildlife violation, they can call in on an 800 number, speak to someone, and then provide information.

Male Speaker 5: Thanks…

Male Speaker 4: Appreciate it. Yup, not a problem. Thanks, guys.

Male Speaker 5: Absolutely.

Male Speaker 4: You guys take care. Have a good one.

Dee Pfleger: The particular scenario that we had was that a hunter had mistakenly crossed a unit boundary. He had a tag for one unit and ended up taking his javelina in the adjacent unit, which is a violation.

Male Speaker 5: Where were you hunting?

Male Speaker 6: Where was I hunting? Well, I started out down around here. It was in this general area. I came out through here.

Dee Pfleger: So, the officers in training had to work through that scenario, collect evidence.

Male Speaker 6: I’m not trying to get anything over on you guys or do anything.

Dee Pfleger: And interview the hunter to determine what exactly had happened and what the violations were.

Male Speaker 3: We talked yesterday about you got to take away what the potential arguments might be.

Ken Dinquel: This week of their post-academy training is probably the single most important week. They’ll learn skills and techniques and tactics here that will just be invaluable for the rest of their career.

Laura Orscheln: Now, that we’re actually in the field and talking to hunters and talking to fishermen and talking to people that are in the field and that are our constituents and learning from other officers in the field and kind of outside of that classroom setting, it’s definitely feeling more real. And it’s fun.

Laura Orscheln: Afternoon!

Female Speaker: [inaudible]

Laura Orscheln: How you doing?

Female Speaker: Great.

Laura Orscheln: You getting out here, getting some quail?

Laura Orscheln: You know, because this is what we got in to do, was get out in the field and talk to people and do what we’re finally getting to do.

Laura Orscheln: Yeah, well, very good. Do you have your license? I’ll check that real quick.

Female Speaker: I do, actually.

Laura Orscheln: I’ve talked to the other guys, and everybody’s feeling good. We feel like we’re where we’re supposed to be, and we’re learning tons. And that’s what this week is designed for.

Laura Orscheln: Well, everything looks perfect. I sure appreciate you being here.

Laura Orscheln: It’s just pretty cool. This is one of the best jobs in the world, if not the best job, I would say.

Jim Hinkle: This is an outdoor job you work by yourself, remote from supervisors, remote from backup. You have to enjoy and relish being alone, making decisions, having a wide degree of responsibility.

A good wildlife manager is someone first and foremost has a passion for wildlife and a love of the outdoors. They survey wildlife populations, both those that are hunted and non-hunted. They make recommendations for management. They assess habitat conditions. They draft projects to improve habitat, to restore, recover, translocate wildlife.

For the right person, this is the job of a lifetime.

Danielle Klaas, Arizona Game & Fish Department: I wanted to be a wildlife manager for lots of different reasons. I grew up in the outdoors, so I really have a respect for the resource, and I want to be able to protect the resource.

Dennis Fogle, Arizona Game & Fish Department: Yeah, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do—get out there in the field, be out there with the wildlife, and help protect and conserve our wildlife.

Cody Johnston: And I want my kids to have a resource. And if I’m not here to protect it, then it’s going to be gone because there are a lot of people abusing it right now.

Ryan Randall, Arizona Game & Fish Department: You see people doing illegal stuff. You report it, but you don’t feel like you can do anything about it. So I think that’s the thing I’m looking forward to the most as far as being able to have an impact physically—get out there and contact people and catch poachers and that type of thing. So, that’s been my passion.

Barry Austin, Arizona Game & Fish Department: You know, it was simple to me. I grew up in the outdoors. I grew up following in the footsteps of my dad and my grandpa. And I went to school when I was 19 at NAU [Northern Arizona University] and wanted to become a wildlife manager. And then, life set in and got married and had kids. And in the back of my mind, I kept telling myself that when my kids grew up—when my youngest son turned 18—I was going to go back to school and get my degree in biology.

And I did. When my son turned 18, I was 42. I quit everything I was doing, and I went down to ASU [Arizona State University], pretty much had to start over with my schooling. And took me three years, graduated, and here I am. This is my life. This is what I’ve always wanted to do.

Speaker: There’s a lot to know and always more to learn about processing a crime scene or enforcing the OHV laws that regulate off-highway vehicles. One week, the recruits are on dry ground. The next week, they’re all wet.

Dee Pfleger: When you start adding all of this other weight, it not only changes you physically, but it also affects you a little bit mentally. So the thing is, these are skills that can be practiced. You guys can improve your ability to tread water and control your breathing by doing deep breathing exercises and working on cardiovascular training.

Male Speaker 7: They’re going to be panicking, so give them a heads up. Life ring coming! Heads up!

Male Speaker 8: Heads up.

Speaker: Knowing how to stay safe around water is important when the job description includes watercraft enforcement on Arizona’s lakes and streams.

On screen: Lake Pleasant

Dave Rigo, Arizona Game & Fish Department: We do a two-week-long watercraft enforcement patrol officer course. Right now, we have eight different agencies here from around the state. Basically, anyone in the state that patrols the water, we send their officers through this course. We train them on how to go out on patrol. We do on-the-water live shooting.

[Gunshots being fired]

Male Speaker 9: You’re going to start off here, behind the wheel.

Male Speaker 5: OK.

Male Speaker 9: OK. We’re going to get the boat rocking for you. Shooter ready!

Male Speaker 5: Ready.

Male Speaker 9: Ready.

[Gunshots being fired]

Male Speaker 9: Hey, cease fire. Scan. Decock and holster.

Male Speaker 5: It’s pretty difficult.

Male Speaker 9: It is pretty damn difficult, but you did pretty damn good.

Male Speaker 5: Cool.

Male Speaker 9: All right.

Male Speaker 5: Thank you.

Male Speaker 9: Next!

Zach Coffman, Arizona Game & Fish Department: I think I see a jet boat out there.

Male Speaker 10: You see jet boat over there?

Zach Coffman: I see a jet boat.

Dave Rigo: Today, we’re working on high-risk stops. So, we’re working on felony stuff and people that are running from us—that kind of thing—where it’s a little heightened sense of urgency on the law enforcement side.

Zach Coffman: Hands in the air. Move towards the front of the boat.

Dave Rigo: We’re teaching them the different tactics and techniques that they need to be successful out here, to keep themselves safe, to keep the public safe.

Zach Coffman: Stand up. [holding his firearm and miming shooting] Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Male Speaker 11: Pow! Pow!

Jim Hinkle: We invest fully 12 months of training into our wildlife managers before we ever turn them loose to work. That’s how complex the job is and how much they need to know.

Zach Coffman: We have three in custody. Shots were fired.

Male Speaker 12: You need that gun ready at a moment’s notice because you don’t know—she popped up and started throwing rounds at you, so.

Zach Coffman: I love working on the water. I really hope to have a water district and just gaining more experience, learning the techniques and proper procedure for operating on the water. It’s been a really fun couple of weeks.

Speaker: It won’t be long before these WM [wildlife manager] recruits are out on their own. But first, they’ll spend a few more weeks out on the road with experienced field training officers. In the meantime, how about a little recap?

Jim Hinkle: A wildlife manager is the delegate from Arizona Game and Fish Department to the communities of Arizona. They are half-time wildlife biologists.

Speaker: Committed to conservation.

Jim Hinkle: They are half-time law enforcement officers.

Speaker: Putting poachers out of business.

Jim Hinkle: We are truly Arizona’s law enforcement in the mountains, the deserts, the prairies, the waterways, the lakes.

Speaker: They’re the scientists with the sidearms.

Jim Hinkle: Yes, we’re the biologists with the guns.

Speaker: And these new WMs are out there now, looking after you and your wildlife in all of Arizona’s wild and wonderful places.