A century-old program is struggling a bit.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has relied on deputy waterways conservation officers to help stock trout, do law enforcement and be a face for the agency for more than 100 years. But help is getting hard to find.
Ten years ago, the commission has 180 deputies. This year it’s got 87. The southeast region of the state has the most with 22. There are 16 working in the northwest, 13 in the southwest.
Corey Brichter, head of the commission’s bureau of law enforcement, told commissioners at their last meeting that the “quality of service” offered by deputies is still good. There’s just not as much of it.
In 2010, deputies worked a little more than 40,000 hours. Last year they did about 25,000.
The problem might be that, in a world that’s increasingly busy, it still takes a lot to become a deputy.
Candidates have to submit a letter of interest, fill out an application, undergo physicals and a background check, get fingerprinted, take an aptitude test, complete lethal weapons training – at their own expense – buy their own sidearm, undergo 100 hours of commission training, and then do 150 hours of on-the-job training with a full-time officer. Then, once on board, they have to undergo annual follow-up training.
All for a stipend of $80 per day, maximum.
“It’s a lot for someone to do who doesn’t get paid a lot,” said commission president Norm Gavlick of Luzerne County.
The commission is actively seeking more deputies, and has three ready for training now, Brichter said. Another 23 candidates have expressed varying levels of interest.
The commission will start a training class when it has 10 candidates fully ready to go, Brichter said.
