Game officers deserve better

Much like Rodney Dangerfield, Pennsylvania’s Wildlife Conservation Officers “get no respect.” Except that it’s no laughing matter.

Our state’s great outdoors are a symbol of freedom. But, in fact, all that open space, especially the land set aside for hunting, is governed by hundreds of rules, and, for some, this is a source of great resentment.

Lawmakers, members of the Game Commission and policy specialists make the rules. But it’s the game officers out in the field, responsible for enforcement, who become targets for some people’s attitude and free-floating anger.

Although they have police authority, WCOs are not always recognized as officers of the law. As a result, they sometimes get challenged in ways that municipal police officers would not. And this can put them in danger.

A recent incident in Bradford County illustrates the lengths to which some people will go when they are told something they don’t like about their behavior in the outdoors.

On June 7, WCO Jeffery Oleniacz was patrolling State Game Lands 12, north of Forksville, when he encountered people operating all-terrain vehicles, utility-task vehicles and dirt bikes on a game lands road that had been posted as closed to motorized vehicles.

According to a Game Commission press release, the riders scattered when Oleniacz approached, but the game officer managed to stop one UTV. He was interviewing the driver when another of the riders returned to the scene and began driving in circles near the officer while making verbal threats.

Can you imagine anyone in his right mind challenging a police officer in this fashion?

To make matters worse, the driver who had returned to jaw at Oleniacz had his daughter with him in the passenger seat. Heedless of the young woman’s safety, the driver accelerated, swerved toward the officer and struck Oleniacz in the left arm, the Game Commission said. He then fled.

Working with information gathered at the scene, WCOs executed search warrants and seized as evidence the UTV used in the assault.

We wonder if, as he was being menaced, Oleniacz thought about a fellow game officer, the late David L. Grove.

Four years ago, in November 2010, Grove was killed by a hail of gunfire as he was trying to arrest a suspected deer poacher near Gettysburg in Adams County. He was only 31. His killer was convicted in 2012 and lives on death row, sentenced to die by lethal injection.

We can all be thankful that the attack on Oleniacz was nowhere near that serious. The WCO suffered an injury to his left arm, but did not require medical attention, the Game Commission reported.

But it was an upsetting reminder that these officers do important work on behalf of all Pennsylvanians. They deserve not only respect, but our thanks.

“Our officers conduct regular patrols on state game lands to protect these valuable resources from abuse,” explained Game Commission Northeast Region Director Daniel Figured. “Assaulting an officer with a motorized vehicle is a serious offense and persons committing this crime will be prosecuted to the fullest extent. This dangerous and reckless act put the safety of three persons at risk.”