Sunday, April 08, 2012

Locals Level Concerns Against Forest Service's Law Officers

Both Enterprise resident Ron Thies and Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen presented reports to the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners Monday morning that shed mountains of doubt upon the enforcement wing of the United States Forest Service. A trifle of Internet research and it’s obvious this is a trend seen many places in the country, including Colorado and California. Regional Patrol Commander Dan Hawkes of the USFS, who has 44 people working under him in a jurisdiction that covers most of Oregon, acknowledges the differences between federal and local law enforcement agencies and says strides are being made “to establish a basis of dialogue.” Thies, who’d earlier been requested by the local commissioners to research the actions of USFS enforcement officers that impact county residents, said he’d found that such officers, “ … were rude and disrespectful on and off of Forest Service land.” After introducing the fact that such complaints are becoming more and more common here and “in several other counties,” Steen reported that in January he, at a meeting attended by Wallowa County Commissioner Paul Castelleja and Hawkes, met with 24 of the state’s 36 county sheriffs at the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association gathering in Portland. A major topic of discussion, said Steen, was how the law enforcement arm of the USFS was trying to gain for its officers the same policing powers as police officers. “This greatly disturbs the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association,” said Steen...more

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