Utah Game Warden Criticism Article

[Hawk Tuah]

Freeway drivers across Utah get pulled over by wildlife officers, feel targeted by 'illegal quota'

Several drivers have now come forward after watching a FOX 13 News investigation, exposing how some game wardens have decided to patrol freeways instead of wildlife areas to inflate their numbers.

www.fox13now.com

Interesting.

 

[BuzzH]

Nothing burger and faux outrage.

 

[mtmuley]

Nothing burger and faux outrage.

User name checks out. mtmuley

 

[Mica Man]

From my experience with driving through Utah it would be pretty easy to write citations. Most seem hell bent on trying to get somewhere first

 

[Dave N]

No radar? Fight it.

 

[BlueSLYR]

I don't hate the policy because it might be breaking Utah state law about police quota policies, I hate it because it seems to be stopping officers from working on wildlife crimes and it highlights how the executive director is bad at his job

 

[LopeHunter]

If you measure something then it will improve. Now, other ramifications can arise.

Why are LEO who lack radar ever writing a speeding ticket much less a ticket stating a specific speed by the person they pull over?

End this cash grab. If a warden is writing a wildlife-oriented violation and there was a traffic violation or expired tags, etc, observed then can be an additive ticket.

Traffic violation knowledge requires training and court appearances. I want wardens in the field protecting wildlife and investigating potential violations against wildlife.

Speeding tickets? Why not chase down over-weight trucks and ticket expired meters and double-parked vehicles? Maybe spend time looking for overgrown lawns and graffiti tagged? Heck, Utah’s wildlife must be doing great and no poaching yet in 2024. Nice job Utah!

 

[Revenuer Man]

I worked in Virginia in a specialized law enforcement unit, we were responsible for enforcing the state's alcohol laws. Anytime we branched out and did other types of enforcement, we'd get a gentle reminder to stay in our lane. Sounds like the politicians running Utah need to send the same message. Game wardens are special units and should stick to what they are experts at. There are plenty of game, fish and boating laws to enforce.

 

[LuketheDog]

Seems like game wardens should be policing, um, wild game?

 

[Bonasababy]

I worked in Virginia in a specialized law enforcement unit, we were responsible for enforcing the state's alcohol laws. Anytime we branched out and did other types of enforcement, we'd get a gentle reminder to stay in our lane. Sounds like the politicians running Utah need to send the same message. Game wardens are special units and should stick to what they are experts at. There are plenty of game, fish and boating laws to enforce.

Can't speak to Utah, but here this type of mission creep started with efforts to integrate wardens into local law enforcement. Some of that is fine IMO, they often work in rural areas where assisting each other can be very helpful.

We had an example of the backfiring that can occur with this some year back. They used to have the right to enter ice fishing houses on public lakes to check for rules and over limit violations. Minimal probable cause needed.

Well a couple of wardens entered a house once, found someone smoking weed, and arrested them for that.

Well one of the guys in the house was a lawyer.

Who pushed the issue. Not long after the rights for wardens to enter fish houses was revoked by a court. Today you can triple your limit and wardens can't do a thing about it. They can't enter a fish house without permission.

 

[Trial153]

It’s not speeding if your on the way to LDS…

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Had a game warden pull me over once for burning rubber and getting sideways in a nice infinity rwd rental car. Told me to stop being f’in stupid and he didn’t have the time to dick around with traffic violations so he let me go

 

[Dsnow9]

I was pulled over in college driving through Utah. I believe the quote was “the speed limit is 65mph, I am writing you a ticket for 70mph because that’s what the radar says, but your back wheels almost came off the ground when you slammed on your brakes. You had to be going over 100mph.” I replied with, “do I pay the ticket now or just mail it in?”

Glad those officers went off the radar or I would have been in jail… it was 102mph as the governor hit in my 1987 Toyota pickup…

I had a lead foot until I started driving cdl trucks and that changed my mentality a whole lot.

 

[jt13]

That "performance goal" is going to get shoved up their butts sideways

 

[TheTone]

I hope the supervisors got the same performance goal, but I highly doubt it

 

[jmcd]

Not sure what to think of this but, oh my heck utards drive like maniacs……

 

[Shed God]

My opinion is maybe a good thing. It's cover to check tags and animals. Another way to catch poachers. So not against it. Maybe a good thing.

 

[sschultz]

My opinion is maybe a good thing. It's cover to check tags and animals. Another way to catch poachers. So not against it. Maybe a good thing.

How many deer do you think are in little sports cars

 

[Shed God]

I bet they not pulling over many sports cars unless they going 80 in a 65

 

[whatnot]

Utah averages over 100 poaching incidents a month that get charged. It's not far fetched to imagine they miss 2x more than that.

Lots of rural cops that may need back up somewhere, and no one cares.

But every min they spend in town(St George isn't a little town) is another poacher walking away.

The suffer the cancer that is $fw because dwr doesn't have the funding or manpower necessary", yet, we do to write tickets for expired stickers?