Southeast Idaho Fish and Game Officer Receives National Award

Randy Sullivan, senior conservation officer assigned to the Grace Patrol Area for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, was honored as one of four recipients of the NAWEOA Torch Award for 2015. NAWEOA-- North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association-selected the four recipients from agencies throughout the United States and Canada. Recipients of the award must have worked as a wildlife enforcement officer for five years or less, must have demonstrated a genuine desire to protect the resource, and must have demonstrated exceptional ability and initiative in the performance of his or her duties, including public education. That certainly describes Officer Sullivan who has been with Fish and Game since 2012. Imagine being able to hit the ground running as a new recruit to Fish and Game's enforcement bureau while covering dual patrol areas across countless acres of Southeast Idaho landscape (until a nearby patrol area vacancy was filled). During the last three years, he has investigated and successfully solved some high-profile cases from closed season elk poaching to wasting of big game to illegal take of trophy species. His supervisor, District Conservation Officer Korey Owens of Preston, says, "Randy quickly picked up on interview and investigative techniques, which are arguably one of the most difficult skills for any wildlife officer to master. As an investigator, he is innovative and relentlessly driven." Any Fish and Game officer will tell you that a wildlife case is often solved because someone witnessed something suspicious and reported it. Take for example a September 2014 phone call to Officer Sullivan about gunshots heard in an archery only deer hunt. That tip prompted an investigation which lead to the discovery of a wasted bull moose and an encounter with a nervous hunter who said he was shooting coyotes while bow hunting for deer. Faced with carefully gathered evidence and a line of questioning dealt by a determined officer, the hunter eventually confessed to shooting the bull moose and leaving it to waste. Sullivan has even found that seemingly generic photographs are helpful in chasing down details in investigations. Acting on an anonymous tip about a hunter who was suspected of killing a bull elk without a valid tag for the zone, Sullivan used the landscape features shown in a photograph of the hunter and his harvested elk to determine the hunter's exact location-and the fact he was in the wrong zone. That evidence helped solidify the case against the individual, and he was cited. But one of the best cases Sullivan has successfully wrapped up happened when he was patrolling the Bear River area in December 2014. It didn't start with a phone call or an anonymous report. He simply noticed fresh human tracks in the snow. Because of his inquisitiveness, he followed the tracks to a dead Trumpeter Swan cygnet stashed in some cattails on the riverbank. Based on the animal's internal temperature, he determined that the swan had died only hours earlier. With no other leads and acting on a hunch, Officer Sullivan called a trapper whom he thought may have been checking traps in that area earlier. The trapper had in fact been there that morning and was able to provide two possible suspect vehicle descriptions. The trapper also told Sullivan that he saw both vehicles at the Maverick Convenience Store in Soda Springs that same morning. Working with the trapper and the Soda Springs Police Department, Sullivan reviewed the store's surveillance video and identified two suspects, obtaining a confession from one of them later that day. "Randy isn't just good at catching wildlife violators," remarks DCO Owens. "He understands that education is a powerful tool in our overall goal of gaining compliance." Officer Sullivan dedicates hours to Fish and Game's Hunter Education efforts as an instructor as well as assisting with youth hunting clinics, mentoring youth hunters, and teaching new anglers how to fish during Free Fishing Day events. Despite the time-consuming rigors of his daily job, Officer Sullivan has also reached out to his community as the assistant baseball coach at Soda Spring High School, forming bonds with his players and community that will last a lifetime. Sullivan was a member of the United States Army National Guard until earlier this year, and served his country when his unit was activated and deployed to Afghanistan from March 2011 until January of 2012. Sullivan currently lives in Soda Springs with his wife, Robyn, and their two kids, who needless to say, are very proud of him. They attended the regional award ceremony here in Pocatello before Sullivan travelled to the official 2015 Torch Award ceremony in Columbia, South Carolina, this past summer. What does Officer Sullivan think about being a Torch Award recipient? "I was really honored," he says. "I think everyone likes to be acknowledged for doing a good job, but I couldn't have done it without the help and mentoring of many other officers along the way."