Re: Letter: Being elected doesn't make anyone an expert
Firstly, for the writer’s pleasure, I do not profess to be an expert. Six years of post-secondary education, graduation from two police training academies and 34.5 years experience as a municipal, provincial and federal law enforcement officer ‘may’ qualify me as experienced, though.
The writer has written about the demise of health-care personnel, teachers, federal police officers, farmers, tradespeople, to name a few, but he omits the dedicated people who protect our water, wildlife, fish and game in Alberta.
And for those who are not experts, I don’t mean federal park wardens or provincial park ranger-conservation officers, who have much more limited mandates and areas to patrol. I refer specifically to Fish and Wildlife officers, also known as game wardens.
I’m not an ‘expert’ mathematician or statistician, but here I will present some interesting, if not startling, figures for those who care.
In 2008 when I retired, there were 137 field game wardens working in Alberta. Now 15 years past, with a considerably larger population, and crime on the rise, there are reportedly 85. One doesn’t have to be an academic to calculate a decrease of 37.9 per cent.
When I published the fourth book, Game Warden IV, in my series of five, I incorporated some manpower, area and population figures for random, albeit comparable resource jurisdictions in North America.
At the time, in 2013, Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers had a manpower density factor (MDF) of 6.95. A decade later, it is 14.25, or a 105 per cent change. Ideal is 1.0.
A prospective Alberta wildlife officer requires a minimum of two years career oriented post-secondary education, and two or more years of law enforcement experience.
Then why such a glut in manpower in one of the richest and resource abundant jurisdictions in North America? Perhaps government apathy is the cause.
I did hear Premier Smith promise 100 police officers to Calgary and Edmonton. Perhaps the writer could examine this.
I have studied criminology, sociology, demography, etc., and have been recognized for my work. Additionally, I’ve donated 15 years to consulting.
That’s 55 years in the business, doing investigative work in five provinces and three countries. I do know one thing that cannot be the reason - pay.
The current average salary disparity between a wildlife officer, and a police officer, both with 10 years service in Alberta, is $45,000 to $50,000 a year. I’ll let the reader guess which occupation has the higher pay.
Murray Bates,
Bearberry
