[PCA] Fwd: U.S. Forest Service's Law Enforcement

[Kwong, Olivia]

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Federal Daily News
Forest Service hindering own law enforcement efforts, group says

·         By FederalDaily Staff
·         February 19, 2014
A budget cut at the U.S. Forest Service's Law Enforcement and
Investigations Division (LEI) is hindering that component's mission,
according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

PEER said that while the Forest Service's overall budget increased this
year, the agency requested 15 percent less for law enforcement. According
to the group, the cut "has resulted in orders for 'office days' taking
officers off patrol, mileage and shift limits, and a hiring freeze as
managers wrestle with how to avoid layoffs."
PEER maintains that the reduction looks to be a matter of "bureaucratic
neglect" rather than the result of congressional action. The group said the
situation is made worse because--following a heavy fire season--LEI did not
have its "fire transfer" funds reinstated as did other Forest Service
programs. LEI also had to absorb the cost of employee raises, PEER said.

"By asking Congress for less money, it appears that the Forest Service
deliberately short-sheeted its own law enforcement program," PEER Executive
Director Jeff Ruch said in a statement. "Sudden cuts of this magnitude will
unquestionably compromise the effectiveness of Forest Service law
enforcement."
PEER said that internal emails reveal implementation of a range of
austerity measures in the wake of the budget cut, including taking law
enforcement officers out of patrol vehicles and putting them on so-called
"office days" ostensibly to do paperwork; limiting the number of miles
officers can drive; and shortening shifts of officers working in the
forests on drug stakeouts.

PEER cited one directive outlining a nationwide LEI hiring freeze which
said in part that "anything we have vacant today will remain vacant and
anything that may become vacant through attrition, will also remain vacant."

The group said that because no national plan is in place on how to deal
with the cuts, each LEI region must "cope on its own" in deciding how to
budget and direct their responses to wild-land fires, drug trafficking
operations and other incidents.

"Forest Service law enforcement personnel are left in the untenable
position of having to decide whether a request for assistance justifies the
cost of gasoline," Ruch said.
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