Conservation officer help

[Seabass81]

Reading in the paper the other day that the Ottawa police will be recruiting volunteer's(sp) to help ease some of the load.

Think there is a way to get "deputised" as a honourary conservation officer. If they trained 100 people to keep an eye on things and enforce some of the minor offence's , this would ease there load as well as help our favorite sport.

If this is deemed a good idea how would you go about proposing this to the ministry?



John

[joco]

its a great ideal.

BUT....as a volonteer your not harm.like the c.o are.

it those sound a bit.... .

but i did seen some guy arrest and i tell you,sometime it can t be something very dangerous...

plus what happen to go in court......all the time wast there..? ho pay the fees and your time lost in court...?

i would like to guive an hand.but i dont want to go in court.i no how it is over there((i work there 2 year )...

but yes it is a great ideal.


but what out.there some consequence to do that.


your propety and your boats your truck etc....if they get scratch or worst.the mnr wont pay for it...



just a little heads up.



joco

[Crunchy]

I would think they would have to give out some fancy ID`s, uniforms or other something to verify their status.

I hope they would be prepared to send a real officer out into the field on a moments notice to handle any situations that may escalate as a result of this.

What are they going to give as far as powers to these volunteers? The power to call the MNR and report incidents? We can do that from a cell phone.

If some guy just comes up to me asking for my licence or tries to search my equipment or inspect my catch without me knowing "for sure" who he is, **** is going to go down.


I think money would be better spent on an extra officer, or perhaps an officer designated for the Ottawa river. Just driving around and seeing people fish on the river all year long, it can be a full time job.

Unfortunately this is the government we have today, and we have to live with it. The system does break down sometimes. And even if they do increase the CO's out there, they cannot handle everyone who fishes, there will be a majority of offences that still go unnoticed.

The best thing to do is the increase fines in the cases that come to light. If somebody is caught breaking rules, take the boat, impound it and make them pay $5000 to get it back, don't just give out a small fine or a warning.

[Jasonb]

the 3 strike system i think would work well... for people who have been convicted of 3 offences will never be allowed to purchase a fishing license, and if they are caught fishing after 3 strikes, without a license, and knowing they are not allowed to fish... full force... trust me it'll only take the publicity of one person loosing everything to make the others smarten up... i know that its a hard job cracking down on everything but why keep spending money giving out fines to the same people... take their truck, boat and all their gear and people will learn to listen... 3 strikes and you're out... not just Ontario... but all throughout Canada... if ppl dont wanna follow the rules why is the government still letting them play??? i dont get it!!! anyways... thats my 2 cents... and we all have pretty much the right to arrest anyone we choose... citizens arrest... but theres alot of work and paperwork involved in a situation like that and most of us dont wanna get ourselves involved... just too risky... someone pulls out a fillet knife and sticks you with it... then some police officer who wasn't around to help you has to inform your wife and kids that their father or mother was murdered for a fish... im sorry but i dont wanna put my family through that... i'd rather just take my money and gear elsewhere to fish with less controversy before i put my life on the line... if i wanted to do that i would have became an officer... but i will take the time to write an email or letter or phone the MNR/Police if something serious happens... but i sure as heck am not going to put my life on the line because our government cant keep control of poachers...
just my 2 cents worth
Jason

[Eli]

I agree with Jasonb 100%.

[lub0]

Guys... lets get real... drunk drivers, rapists, etc, free on the streets and we are worried for someone without a fishing licence...

[Jasonb]

since when does the MNR take actions against rapists, drunk drivers, etc. or anything that would fall under those type of catagories?? i've never heard of it...

[lub0]

Where MNR gets the money? Federal and provincial budgets... The whole point is we are not living in an ideal world, otherwise I bet everyone on this board would be a professional angler...

[Bass Addict]

Nah........not getting my teeth knocked out beacause some welfare bum

has one extra tip-up in use



Need to start paying the C O $ 8O,OOO plus benefits ..............

An hire more of them .

[Jasonb]

People who would actaully go through with raping someone or drinking and driving generally have an extensive criminal record... if the 3 strike system was put into play i believe our streets would be much safer... although it would get costly keeping theese people locked away, but what it does do... it will ENSURE that theese individuals will not even be allowed to make anymore bad decisions... their decision making priviliges will be removed... therefore we wont have to worry because someone else made a bad decision... we will not suffer... just them... it may cost many tax dollars... but who can put a price on safety... apparently all of us do put a price... because once something like this is put into play, we all complain because taxes rise and we pay more... but at what expense is our familys saftey.... im guilty of it too... i hate taxes... but why bring up budget issues when im pretty sure not one person on this site has EVER donated a large sum of money to our local police or MNR offices... we just expect them to put their lives on the line everyday and then we all complain about paying taxes... i for one will not complain about budgets and underfunding... i am not the cause for it and i sure as heck am not the solution... so i cant comment on budgets that i have not tried to help out with...

Jason

[almontefisher]

With hunting if you are caught hunting illegally the CO's can take everything you own..would it not be the same for fishing illegally. I read in the OOD magazine a little while ago that the CO's caught someone hunting illegally and they took his vehicle, guns, skidoo etc. Why not impose those same rules for fishing...Take their equipment, car, shack,atv, home etc. I bet they will not do it again. As for these volunteer CO's they would be almost the same as security gaurds...They can enforce the law but don't really have the respect they need. People will just treat them like any other person without authority.

[mikemicropterus]

This is actually pretty funny notion.....

As I picture it Barney Fife is wooing Leeann down by the fishin hole when he spots a "POACHER" .......

Crouching behind a bush and Leeann he reaches into his breast pocket to retrieve his one and ONLY bullet.....


You all know the rest he shoots himself in the foot and the poacher gets away...

True story....

Out crappie fishin one spring obviously late april early may and when I was pulling my boat out some immigrants, no offence to anyone... were fishin by the ramp...

Looked in their bucket and there were three of the smallest smallmouths I have seen obviously out of season.. and a couple of perch

So I asked one of the men if they knew what that fish was and he said no he did not know what kind of fish that was..

So I asked him for his license and told him it was a smallmouth bass and it was out of season and he was commiting a crime and I had to report him

His friend had no license but still gave me his name.... I told them to go get the regulations and for his friend to get a license and the ministry would be in contact with them both

They both left now they could have returned later and said %^^&^ you but I did find one of them to be sincere but ill informed about the regulations in fact to the point that they didn't think there were any regualtions as back in their country you could fish were ever you wanted ....and pay off the fish officer when he showed up .... they both laughed in agreement


I think each situation determines the action sometimes its better to just sit back and look through your BINOCULARS and carry your VIDEO cameras,,,, something I'd like to do during the spring when those guys are going just a bit too shallow for crappie or pike



I wonder how much they would pay for the job.
....ONE BULLET


Let the CO's do their job that's why they wear the sidearm... what am I going to do POKE YOU IN THE EYE WITH MY FLIPPIN STICK


Deputy CO's I've heard it all now
"FREEZE DROP YOUR ROD OR I'LL TELL"

[TLunge]

Ontario had the deputy CO system in place for years until Dolton McGuinty's wonderful gang cancelled it a few years ago. I seem to remember it worked fine, don't recall hearing about any major disasters.
I don't know why some here are trying to put the kibosh on this before it even get's started as it seems like a step in the right direction to me.
Poaching has become really common around Ottawa anyway, I see it way to often. This program could put a major dent in poaching.
just my 2 cents
TLunge

[troutnmuskiehunter]

With hunting if you are caught hunting illegally the CO's can take everything you own..would it not be the same for fishing illegally. I read in the OOD magazine a little while ago that the CO's caught someone hunting illegally and they took his vehicle, guns, skidoo etc. Why not impose those same rules for fishing...Take their equipment, car, shack,atv, home etc. I bet they will not do it again. As for these volunteer CO's they would be almost the same as security gaurds...They can enforce the law but don't really have the respect they need. People will just treat them like any other person without authority.

They have those rules in place...a few years back some people were caught on a part of Calabogie lake that was declared a "fish sanctuary" in the regs....it was all over the news!!...all their gear including the boat was confiscated and if I remember, they were ordered to pay a fine close to $2500