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| NEWS - August 19, 2008 |
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| New career for a former mechanic |
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By Andre Delaire
Post Staff
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Roughly eight months into the job, Fish and Wildlife officer Andy Czemmel couldn’t be happier with his career change.
Last December, Czemmel arrived in Lac La Biche after graduating from a new fish and wildlife enforcement training academy in Hinton. He was one of the first officers trained alongside recruits from not only Alberta, but also Saskatchewan and British Columbia. As of this year, the Western Conservation Law Enforcement Academy includes recruits from Manitoba and Yukon, and in the next few weeks, one of these graduates will be posted in Lac La Biche.
"We’re training everybody the same because we do a lot of inter-agency stuff," Czemmel said. "If I get called over to Saskatchewan to help them out on an investigation, we need to be working on the same level. Before, everybody had different training."
And training is a word quite familiar to Czemmel, having previously worked as a conservation officer in a few different provinces and territories. His recent 16-week training program at the Hinton academy was the most intense training. It included a 12-day firearms course, defensive tactics, emergency survival, an Emergency Vehicle Operators Course (EVOC), and several different boating lessons.
"That consists of large prop, small prop, jet boat, and personal watercrafts — so Jet Skis," he said.
Before choosing a career in law enforcement, Czemmel worked as an auto mechanic for 14 years. Although he had a knack at fixing cars, the Fish and Wildlife officer decided he wanted to do something he loves.
"I enjoyed hunting and fishing my whole life. I’ve been checked by a few game wardens and thought it was a really good way to go."
Best of all, Czemmel was stationed in Lac La Biche — the perfect place to keep busy and get the experience, he said.
"It’s busy all year long," he said of the Lac La Biche Fish and Wildlife district. "It’s one of the few places where we have an extensive fishing season, and then we have a really good hunting season, and then ice fishing starts."
He’s also getting to know the bear essentials about life in the boreal forest. Czemmel, and other Fish and Wildlife officers in the district, have been extremely busy this summer responding to numerous complaints of bears on residential properties. Although it hasn’t been the case within the town limits, Czemmel said they are showing up in rural areas where home owners have bird feeders.
"There’s no reason to have bird feeders out right now," Czemmel said.
With hunting season approaching, he has a few other concerns.
"One of our main concerns is people hunting where they’re not supposed to be hunting, shooting on or across highways, and one of the biggest concerns we have is that people are still driving around with loaded firearms in their vehicle."
But for the most part, everyone is pretty good to the Fish and Wildlife officers — 99 per cent of the people, Czemmel said.
"There’s half a per cent that did something wrong, and the other half a per cent knew they were doing something wrong."
Looking for a job?
Fish and Wildlife officers are in demand, Czemmel said. Back in the 1990s, about 600 applied for a job in this field, but lately those numbers have dropped to about 90 applicants a year.
Anyone interested in a career with Fish and Wildlife can call Czemmel to learn more about the job at 780-623-5247. |
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