Overview
FWC officers provide protection to residents and visitors who
enjoy Florida's natural resources, while enforcing resource
protection and boating safety laws in the woods and on the waters
of the statein keeping with the Division's core missions.
FWC officers have full police powers and statewide jurisdiction.
They patrol rural, wilderness and inshore and offshore areas and
are often the sole law enforcement presence in many remote parts of
the state. The Division of Law Enforcement has cooperative
agreements with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. Officers are also cross-deputized to
enforce federal marine fisheries and wildlife laws, thus ensuring
state and federal consistency in resource-protection efforts.
Division of Law Enforcement Sections
Operations
The Operations section's six regions throughout the state are
responsible for uniformed patrol and investigative law enforcement
services of the FWC's 700-plus officer workforce. The officers and
investigators protect fish, wildlife and the citizens of Florida
and provide boating safety patrols. Investigations are able to
conduct both overt (uniform) and covert (plainclothes)
investigations. They allow the FWC to target hard-core commercial
violators by conducting long-term undercover investigations.
Investigators are also responsible for inspecting personal and
commercial native and exotic wildlife facilities as well as
investigating hunting and boating accidents.
This section also provides statewide coordination of all
aviation, offshore vessel, K-9 and Special Operations Group
activities. Aviation assets play a vital role in the agency's
effort to enforce conservation and boating laws, protect endangered
and threatened species and safeguard outdoor users. The division's
offshore patrol vessels concentrate on offshore fisheries and
protected marine areas as well as public safety. The K-9 teams are
specially trained in tracking and wildlife detection. The K-9s
receive no aggression training and are very "user-friendly." In
addition to their law enforcement functions, they have proved to be
a great community oriented policing relations tool.
Law Enforcement Support
Boating, Waterways & Program
Coordination
This section's employees manage state waterways and their
markers and signs to protect boaters and wildlife. They coordinate
the removal of derelict vessels and the development of boating
infrastructure. They use many methods to promote boating safety,
from education and outreach to investigation and analysis of
boating accident data.
Field Services
This section provides officer support with radio technology and
systems engineering; fleet management; research, testing and
acquisition of new computer and telecommunications technology; and
arrest/warning citation and disposition data management. They
maintain the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system which enhances
officer safety and efficiency.
Training
This section provides professional basic recruit and advanced
training and career development programs to officers
statewide. They train FWC officers in the aspects of
non-traditional policing as well as ensuring basic law enforcement
standards are met and maintained.
Officers' Authority
Sworn personnel are fully constituted police officers as
provided under Florida Statute 379.3311. This gives them the
authority to enforce all laws of the state, not just those relating
to resource enforcement. Our officers are also cross-deputized to
enforce federal fisheries and wildlife laws.
Officers' Responsibilities
- Provide protection and enforce laws relating to all wild animal
and aquatic resources of the state. This includes game, non-game,
furbearers, threatened and endangered wildlife and fish, and marine
mammals; encompassing approximately 672 species of wildlife, 208
species of freshwater fish and over 500 saltwater fish species. In
doing so, officers patrol over 37 million acres of public and
private land, 8,246 miles of tidal coastline, 12,000 miles of
rivers and streams, 3 million acres of lakes and ponds, and 11,000
miles of canals.
- Provide boating safety enforcement on the state's waters in
order to ensure the safe usage of our resources. Includes enforcing
boating under the influence laws, as well as laws relating to the
safe and prudent operation of watercraft, investigating boating
accidents, and search and rescue missions.
- Provide general law enforcement protection to the human
resources of the state. One aspect of this is providing general law
enforcement patrol in rural, semi-wilderness, wilderness, and
offshore areas where no other law enforcement agencies routinely
patrol. Officers also respond to a variety of emergencies including
natural disasters, civil disturbances, and search and rescue
missions. These include such diverse phenomena as hurricanes,
riots, wildfires, floods, and providing protection for elected
officials (governors and presidents).
Persons with Disabilities