STATESBORO -- A unanimous vote Tuesday by its board will allow the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to reorganize its law enforcement, a move that will eventually take away the policing power of some state park rangers.
The decision came as board members acknowledged the criticism by some about the plan, which DNR officials have pitched as a way to make law enforcement work more efficiently within the agency’s ranks. The plan will streamline five separate enforcement units within the agency into one division.
The consolidation will be phased in over the next five years, through 2018.
Board Chairman Robert Leebern Jr. announced a new law enforcement committee of the board to help navigate — and keep watch of — those changes over that time.
“I don’t think any of the board members take these decisions lightly,” Leebern said. “I appreciate the candor of everyone involved here on both sides.”
DNR officials said they received 2,800 emails, letters and phone calls about the consolidation during a 30-day public comment period that ended June 18. Of those, more than 2,000 were in support of the plan — although opponents decried a large number of form letters included in that count that they said were solicited by DNR employees. During the comment period, officials held one public hearing.
Approval by the DNR board, which held its monthly meeting Tuesday at Georgia Southern University, established new rules and streamlined others related to the changes, although DNR Commissioner Mark Williams has said the reorganization is largely an internal management change.
Visitors will see no reduction in its 200 full-time law enforcement officers, spread over more than 155 properties, DNR officials said. However, about 80 other employees who now help patrol and enforce laws will no longer have enforcement powers.
That’s because the agency will phase out part-time policing work done by on-site staff, including state park managers who often are the most familiar faces to regular visitors. Many of these employees, known as deputy conservation rangers, juggle several duties.
Board approval came despite criticism by some who worry the plan could stretch the agency’s full-time officers thin and decrease law enforcement visibility within some of the state’s most visited facilities.
Several conservation groups, retired DNR managers and park volunteers opposed or at least questioned the plan. They believe DNR did not do enough to publicize the changes among hunters, anglers and others who pay $20.5 million annually in license fees to use parkland and wildlife areas.
“The department greatly limited hearings in favor of written input,” said Todd Holbrook, president of the Georgia Wildlife Federation who retired last year as DNR’s deputy commissioner. The agency, he added, then “decided to act as its own advocacy group.”
Opponents also predicted the unintended consequences of the plan could include more people parking without buying a pass, soaring alcohol use (and the subsequent fights and loud music) and more illegal deer kills.
However, several of the state’s sheriffs and high-profile law enforcement organizations, including the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, have supported the changes and say it will help streamline their work with DNR and promote better training and effectiveness.
It’s also not the first of its kind in the region. Eight of the 15 states involved with the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies organization have a similar structure to the one being implemented by Georgia.
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