Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact

By Gary Roller, Caddo County

In my report for this issue, I want to talk about the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact. An ever increasing topic (not in place in OK as of yet) and a valuable law enforcement tool that has become a very important issue nationwide is the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact (IWVC). To those not familiar, the IWVC is a law enforcement cooperative agreement between fish and wildlife agencies across the nation. It was a concept initiated in the early 1980's. Law enforcement divisions of state wildlife agencies that were members of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies discussed a method to deter wildlife crime, especially among highly mobile violators. Those states already had high volumes of nonresident hunters traveling into their state from around the country to hunt or fish. The problem that surfaced was violators who were charged with wildlife violations would then return to their home states, refusing to comply with the terms of their arrest. They either refused to pay the fine or return to court. Usually there were little or no repercussions for the noncompliant violator. Unless the violator was encountered on a return trip to the state of violation (where he could be re arrested on a warrant), and since most wildlife violations are misdemeanors not subject to extradition, they often "skipped out" on their responsibility. Even if the crime were a felony, there was often a reluctance to extradite wildlife violators. These violators of course continued to hunt and fish in their home states and in other states (avoiding the offended state) without risk of arrest. In fact, some chronic violators were intentionally taking their illegal hunting ethics into other states knowing they would just 'run'.

A federal law was already in place that allowed compacts among states to address crime issues.
Public Law No. 293, H.R. 7353 was passed June 6, 1934 and re codified May 24, 1949 as Title 4 U.S.C. Section 112. This law allowed states to enter compacts for cooperation in prevention of all types of crime and is in use (even in OK) for cooperative interstate motor vehicle law enforcement. The section reads: "The consent of Congress is hereby given to any two or more states to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative efforts and mutual assistance in the prevention of crime and in the enforcement of their respective criminal laws and policies, and to establish such agencies, joint or otherwise, as they may deem desirable for making effective such agreements and compacts." With this as a basis, some western states entered into an agreement concerning enforcement efforts in 1989. Oregon, Colorado and Nevada passed enabling legislation that year which gave birth to the IWVC.

What the IWVC does is treat the wildlife offender the same in all the other (compact) member states as they would be treated in the state of the offense. For example, if an offender from Missouri (a compact member), has his hunting or fishing privileges suspended in Kansas (also a compact member), his privileges would also be suspended in Missouri as well as all the other member states. Under the IWVC, member states can suspend licenses for nonpayment of fines in other member states. This can be a significant deterrent to violators when they realize they are subject to such sanctions. It prevents them from going to other member states and continuing to hunt and creates a powerful incentive for offenders to take care of their violations (penalties). Further, it would serve as a deterrent for re offending.

The IWVC is also a benefit to the offender and the arresting officers. Nonresident violators are often required in some states to be placed in custody and/or post a bond to ensure they will appear in court or comply with the orders of the court. IWVC member states are allowed to treat nonresident offenders the same as resident offenders because they there is confidence the impending court issues will not be ignored. Usually, this means the non resident violator will simply be cited and released on their own recognizance. For the officer, the agency, and the courts, this adds up to significant time savings and gives peace of mind that the offender will not escape justice once he returns home.

In 1999, the Utah Division of Wildlife developed a database that allows member states to enter suspension information that cross references their license database on subjects who are suspended from the purchase of licenses. At present, the IWVC has 26 member states. Three states recently passed legislation and 12 others have legislation in the 'joining' process. Nine states are presently not members including Oklahoma.

In our above example, the Missouri offender could come to Oklahoma to hunt though he was revoked in his home state, Kansas, and all the other IWVC member states. Conversely, if they got into trouble in Oklahoma and did not comply with requirements, our only recourse would be to file for arrest warrants (that would rarely be enforced).

Missouri would not suspend the violator (who visited OK) for nonpayment of a fine because we are not a member state. That warrant would only be served if the violator came back into our state. All wildlife violations are misdemeanors in Oklahoma. In our state, many nonresident violators are simply cited and released. If they choose to ignore the summons there is little we can do but have a warrant issued. So, maybe the time has come for our state to consider the benefits of being an IWVC member. It would require the legislature to pass enabling legislation to become a member. I know I favor it.

Editor's note: It has been said by some who are `nonmembers' of the COMPACT that there is concern that the COMPACT would cause agencies of the home states (of violators), to lose much needed license revenues (from the revoked license the violator could no longer be allowed to purchase), if agencies had to revoke a large number of licenses belonging to a large number of violators. Wardens believe this "large number" of violators would modify their behavior in order to keep the license privilege and the future of hunting depends on the nation's agencies taking this strong stand ...together.