For decades, we’ve been talking about problems in the Maine Warden Service. While it seems that Colonel Joel Wilkinson has quickly set aside the most recent criticism about undercover tactics, it is my hope that this flare up will allow a thoughtful examination of problems and issues that have been raised over the last 25 years in a series of reports, some of which included lots of recommendations.
My suggestion is for the legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee to appoint a commission of thoughtful people – some with law enforcement experience – to examine the current issue of undercover tactics, review all of the reports and recommendations issued over the last 25 years, give current and former wardens a chance to express their opinions and thoughts, and create a set of recommendations that can move us forward.
And when the IFW Committee and DIF&W get those recommendations, they need to implement them.
Today, I’ve raised some of those problems in my editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, titled Are Female Game Wardens an Endangered Species? You can read that column here.