ORIGINAL: R.S.B.
"I will reiterate that I've never been stopped and checked and had the Warden say that he was doing the check because there had been a report of someone breaking the game law in the area. They have always said "It's my duty to check you." or "It's my job to check you."
That kind of treatment is unacceptable to me and I make it known to them. As I said previously, they still call this place America."
It might be unacceptable to you and some of the other radicals but it isn’t unacceptable in the eyes of the courts of this nation or this state. They have ruled on that issue and determined we don’t even need to have reasonable suspicion to check a hunting license or in some cases even a game bag. We do need probable cause to do most other searches and we do need to state a reason for a stop if indeed we actually made a stop instead of just experiencing a mere encounter with a hunter participating in a highly regulated sport.
Dick Bodenhorn
WCO, Elk County
I'm sorry you don't see it, but once again you make the point for the other person.
If you asked people at large,
including non-hunters, what they would think of
any Officer answering only with "It's my duty/job to check you", you would get the same result, "that is NOT a proper answer", not just people that you very easily and quickly call "radicals". (radicals like those who threw all of that tea into Boston Harbor?)
You also quickly point to "acceptable in the eyes of the court.....", but do not address the impression that said answer makes in the eyes of the people, and that DOES matter. What he is trying to point out is that a phrase like that IS what sets the course of the encounter and could be completly avoided by the Officer saying "Weare investigating X, so we are doing routine checks", etc. That is courtesy and public relations. Just because you don'tneed a reason does not mean you can't be polite about it. That seems to be the big difference to another LEO. That is being polite even during a traffic stop,
where you are stopped because you didviolate a law. It IS all a case of attitude. But unfortunatly, it seems that the one with attitude never thinks that they have one.