If you’re willing to work, to be outdoors a lot, and to protect and serve, you might be qualified to wear the green uniform. The Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division is looking to hire new officers.
Capt. Jet Quillen, a guest on Indiana Outdoors radio, said the department may hire as many as 20 people, and expects about 1,500 applications. So, the recruitment effort is expected to be quite competitive. But, he said the demands and expectations of the new officers are high.
“The expectation of law is enforcement is more now than it was ten years ago,” said Quillen. “More responsibilities, more duties. Expectations are more and higher, which is fine, but we need to keep up with the staffing requests on that.”
Quillen said part of the need for more officers has to do with the record usage of state properties and record sales of licenses for hunting and fishing.
He said the green uniform is still a law enforcement uniform.
“We are police officers. We enforce all state laws. We are out to serve the public and protect the public and sometimes that means arresting the drunk driver,” he said. “Obviously we’re out to enforce our fish and wildlife laws and our boating and ROV laws. When we’re out there performing those duties, we come across other things and we are expected to take care of those, as well.
The physical demands are also high and the hiring process takes nearly a year. But, quillen said the partial college education requirement has been removed.
If you want to apply, you can visit the “Become a Conservation Officer” section at www.dnrlaw.in.gov .
