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What’s in a Name? The Occupational Identity of Conservation and Natural Resource Oriented Law Enforcement Agencies

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A Correction to this article was published on 18 April 2020

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Abstract

This research explores: (1) the occupational identity of fish and wildlife police agencies and (2) considers an emerging concern that these agencies have widened their work priorities to include more traditional law enforcement. To investigate these issues a content analysis of state level law enforcement agency websites with a fish and wildlife focus is used to better understand how they self-identify (agency name and job titles), their mission statements, the scope of power sworn officers have (limited to special purpose or inclusive of general law enforcement powers), and the educational and training requirements to support their stated agency missions. The findings demonstrate fish and wildlife police agencies are engaged in a scope of work that supports a general law enforcement role. This study demonstrates many fish and wildlife police agencies and their officers appear to be transitioning roles into more generalized law enforcement officers, but this change is not universal.

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Change history

  • 18 April 2020

    The authors of ���What���s in a Name? The Occupational Identity of Conservation and Natural Resource Oriented Law Enforcement Agencies,���

Notes

  1. Some states had “training sessions” for their fish and wildlife law enforcement personnel, but they lasted 8 weeks or less. Any additional training was classified as an academy if it lasted at least 3 months.

  2. The regions were divided using the criteria stipulated by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Northeast consisted of CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT. Midwest included IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI. South is AR, AL, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, MD, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV. The West contained AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, HI, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. California State University, Chico, 400 W. First St., Chico, CA, 95929, USA

    Ryan Patten

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA

    Matthew S. Crow

  3. Center for the Study of Crime and Justice, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Tara O’Connor Shelley

Authors
  1. Ryan Patten
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  2. Matthew S. Crow
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  3. Tara O’Connor Shelley
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Correspondence to Ryan Patten.

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Patten, R., Crow, M.S. & Shelley, T.O. What’s in a Name? The Occupational Identity of Conservation and Natural Resource Oriented Law Enforcement Agencies. Am J Crim Just 40, 750–764 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-014-9286-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-014-9286-y

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