[A]fter more than five decades, Fish and Wildlife Department game wardens’ home office phones will no longer be paid for by the government. The change was made in June.
With the added expense, some wardens may rely on their cellphones, meaning it may not be as simple to reach them anymore where coverage is spotty, said Jason Batchelder, Vermont’s chief game warden. That could cause public responsiveness to dwindle, he said.
The labor relations division of the Department of Human Resources reviewed the wording in the Vermont State Employees’ Association’s collective bargaining agreement regarding compensation for home offices and decided the $65 already included per pay period for home offices should cover the phone bills, said Thomas Cheney, deputy human resources commissioner.
Game wardens are the law enforcement officials who enforce fish and wildlife, boat, snowmobile, ATV and general criminal laws. They cover their own specific assigned region of the state, according to the department.
Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter said in a statement that the department learned of this decision in late June and is evaluating the situation and possible options to ensure compliance with the collective bargaining agreement and provide enough money for the wardens.
Since 1972, the state government had been covering the phone bills of game wardens on top of the home office compensation, according to Batchelder.
Batchelder said the costs of running a home office, including printer supplies, electricity, trash, internet and phone, exceed the $65 per pay period allocation.
All the currently active 37 game wardens in the state have their phone numbers listed on the Fish and Wildlife Department website as well as published annually in the Fish and Wildlife law digest, Porter said.
“People call (game wardens) regularly to ask about a whole host of issues, including bears in birdfeeders, rabid animals or animals involved in car accidents that pose a risk to drivers,” Porter said. “I am very proud of the fact that, day and night, they respond to these situations professionally and thoroughly.”
Batchelder said some people use the home numbers more than is reasonable but that public access to direct numbers is what separates the Fish and Wildlife game wardens from any other law enforcement.
“I used to sleep next to my cordless phone,” Batchelder said of his days as a regular game warden. “I would respond on the first ring.”
Due to the volume of calls they receive, the phone bill for a game warden’s home office probably varies between $50 and $60 a month, Batchelder said.
If wardens choose not to have a home office phone and to have their cellphone number listed instead, that could be an issue in places where reception is spotty, Batchelder said. The public may turn to regular law enforcement instead or try to reach a game warden through regular law enforcement officials, he said.
“Let me note that it is important for wardens to have a home phone available, as they are expected to respond to emergency situations in their districts even when off duty, and a significant number of them do not have cell coverage at home,” Porter said.
In reference to the July 7 fatal attack on police in Dallas, Batchelder said police aren’t viewed as the friends that they used to be to the general public. He said he doesn’t want game wardens to go down a similar path.
“I want to make every effort to make (game) wardens as human as possible,” he said.
“Over the long term, it would hurt our credibility,” Batchelder said.
Because of this, Batchelder said, it may eventually decrease the effectiveness of the wardens’ conservation efforts. “We want to be the original community police,” Batchelder said.
