The following is the position statement of the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs in opposition to A-1686 which would create a Division of Natural Resources Police in the D.E.P.
The State Federation of Sportsman's clubs strongly opposes A-1686 for the following reasons:
The bill as written would be a blatant rip off of the dedicated Hunters and Anglers fund which is entirely supported by sportsmen's license fees and excise taxes related to hunting, fishing and shooting equipment purchases by New Jersey Sportsmen. Since the dedicated funds inception in 1948, all Hunters and anglers account funds have been completely under the control of the director of fish, Game and Wildlife with the oversight by the Fish and Game Council. This fact is the primary reason the sportsmen of New Jersey have supported ever increasing license fee increases to fund fish and Game Activities.
At present, the day to day activities of the fish, Game and Wildlife Conservation Officer force are under the direct control of the Director of the Division of Fish, Game and wildlife, with the oversight responsibilities resting with the Fish and Game Council which is composed of 6 sportsmen, 3 farmers, and 2 public members. To place control of the Fish and Game law enforcement effort under a separate Division with a politically appointed Superintendent would have a negative impact on New Jersey's fish and game law enforcement efforts. There are examples of the neighboring states where for financial reasons wildlife law enforcement was separated from the Fish and Wildlife Agency and the quality of the wildlife enforcement was drastically reduced. Contacts with fish and Wildlife directors and councils in New York and Massachusetts will bear this out.
The bill proposed would increase the cost of fish and Wildlife law enforcement by imposing an additional supervisory level bureaucracy over the supervising force already in place.
The New Jersey conservation officer force consists of highly trained resource managers who are also highly trained law enforcement officers. Conservation officers are an integral part of a resource Management team whose primary responsibility is the management and protection of the state's wildlife resource. Marine Police and Park Rangers have very different educational and training requirements and overall resource management responsibilities.
An underlying factor to concerns stated above related to A-1686, is the continuation of New Jersey sportsmen funding the Hunters and anglers Dedicated Fund at a level necessary to properly manage New Jersey's wildlife resource. The primary reason the New Jersey sportsman has been willing to support ever increasing hunting and fishing license fees is his confidence that "his money" will be totally under the control of the division of Fish, Game and Wildlife and the Fish and Game Council and will not be diverted to other uses. A-1686, if enacted, would immediately erode the sportsmen's confidence in the integrity of the dedicated fund with a resulting lack of support for the fund, license fee increases and the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife itself. Fish and Game law enforcement would experience the same negative response that "D.E.P." now elicits.
A-1686 would do nothing to improve wildlife law enforcement in our state and in fact would be extremely detrimental to New Jersey's top quality wildlife law enforcement effort we enjoy today. The New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen urges the defeat of this ill conceived proposal.