COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sixteen of the 18 Ohio wildlife
officers referred for illegal on-duty hunting by the state watchdog have
been cleared by the state and were returned to their jobs Tuesday.
An
Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman said the officers got
their guns and trucks back after being on administrative leave since
December during an internal review.
One officer, who was not
immediately named, has been referred for discipline, spokeswoman Bethany
McCorkle said. Another has retired.
The internal state review
uncovered new evidence unavailable to Inspector General Randall Meyer,
McCorkle said. Phone records, logs and individual accounts determined
the officers — who all have home offices — weren’t on duty when they
hunted, she said. Meyer had requested to interview the officers, which
they declined.
"These officers take great pride in their work, and
we’re pleased to have them back on the job," McCorkle said. "This was
never about their integrity. It was a record-keeping issue."
Meyer
had found in comparing deer harvest and payroll records that the
officers had hunted while on duty or were off duty at the time their
deer harvests were recorded and therefore falsified payroll records to
collect pay for hours not worked.
The inspector general’s report
issued in December said "lack of accountability and supervision along
with failure of wildlife officers’ compliance with the communication
policy" was not only a legal issue but a safety concern.
Meyer
launched the probe after an earlier investigation resulted in the
convictions of two Brown County officers. He said he suspected it was
more than an isolated incident.
McCorkle said Meyer’s comparison
of deer harvest and payroll records failed to tell the whole story. She
said the investigation considered officers on duty once they entered
their vehicles, though they have "very flexible schedules" that can
include making checks from home in the mornings and attending public
meetings at night.
The state has put new record-keeping protocols
and officer education requirements in place to prevent similar problems
in the future, she said.
The department’s 140-member Wildlife
Division has at least one wildlife officer in each of the state’s 88
counties. Officers identified in the probe were from Adams, Belmont,
Butler, Champaign, Columbiana, Defiance, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia,
Geauga, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Mercer, Sandusky, Stark, Vinton and
Wyandot counties.
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