08-02-2007, 06:10 PM
HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced that Richard Palmer has been named director of the agency's Bureau of Wildlife Protection. Palmer has been serving as the bureau's acting-director since July of 2006.
As bureau director, Palmer will coordinate and oversee, along with the six regional directors and law enforcement supervisors, the wildlife protection and law enforcement activities of the Game Commission's 136 district Wildlife Conservation Officers (WCOs) and more than 400 Deputy WCOs.
Palmer began his career with the Game Commission in 1991, as a Wildlife Conservation Officer trainee in 21st Class of the Game Commission's Ross Leffler School of Conservation (RLSC). Upon graduating, Palmer was assigned to the Bureau's Special Investigations Unit and worked undercover.
In 1994, Palmer was assigned to serve as a district WCO in southern Huntingdon County, and transferred to a district in eastern Perry County in 1997. From 1998 to 2000, Palmer served as the Law Enforcement Training Supervisor at the RLSC.
In 2000, Palmer was promoted to chief of the bureau's Research and Training Division, and then promoted again to serve as Director of Training at the RLSC in 2004.
After graduating from Tidioute High School in Warren County in 1984, Palmer entered the U.S. Air Force and earned an associate's degree in criminal justice from the Community College of the U.S. Air Force. He also was awarded a certificate in training and development from Penn State University.
During his service in the U.S. Air Force, Palmer was a law enforcement canine handler and worked on the presidential support team assisting the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. State Department.
Palmer is a past member of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, the Association of Natural Resource Enforcement Trainers, and is a former chairman of Ducks Unlimited Committee. He presently is a member of the Northeast Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs Association, the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association and the Conservation Officers of Pennsylvania Association.
An avid outdoorsman, Palmer hunts, fishes and trains hunting dogs, and has mentored many family and friends - of all ages - in hunting and fishing. He is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Hunting Spaniel Club.
In 1995, Palmer was presented with the Game Commission Outstanding Employee Award. Palmer and his wife, Wendy, currently reside in Cleona, Lebanon County.
Created in 1895 as an independent state agency, the Game Commission is responsible for conserving and managing all wild birds and mammals in the Commonwealth, establishing hunting seasons and bag limits, enforcing hunting and trapping laws, and managing habitat on the 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands it has purchased over the years with hunting and furtaking license dollars to safeguard wildlife habitat. The agency also conducts numerous wildlife conservation programs for schools, civic organizations and sportsmen's clubs.
The Game Commission does not receive any general state taxpayer dollars for its annual operating budget. The agency is funded by license sales revenues; the state's share of the federal Pittman-Robertson program, which is an excise tax collected through the sale of sporting arms and ammunition; and monies from the sale of oil, gas, coal, timber and minerals derived from State Game Lands.
As bureau director, Palmer will coordinate and oversee, along with the six regional directors and law enforcement supervisors, the wildlife protection and law enforcement activities of the Game Commission's 136 district Wildlife Conservation Officers (WCOs) and more than 400 Deputy WCOs.
Palmer began his career with the Game Commission in 1991, as a Wildlife Conservation Officer trainee in 21st Class of the Game Commission's Ross Leffler School of Conservation (RLSC). Upon graduating, Palmer was assigned to the Bureau's Special Investigations Unit and worked undercover.
In 1994, Palmer was assigned to serve as a district WCO in southern Huntingdon County, and transferred to a district in eastern Perry County in 1997. From 1998 to 2000, Palmer served as the Law Enforcement Training Supervisor at the RLSC.
In 2000, Palmer was promoted to chief of the bureau's Research and Training Division, and then promoted again to serve as Director of Training at the RLSC in 2004.
After graduating from Tidioute High School in Warren County in 1984, Palmer entered the U.S. Air Force and earned an associate's degree in criminal justice from the Community College of the U.S. Air Force. He also was awarded a certificate in training and development from Penn State University.
During his service in the U.S. Air Force, Palmer was a law enforcement canine handler and worked on the presidential support team assisting the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. State Department.
Palmer is a past member of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, the Association of Natural Resource Enforcement Trainers, and is a former chairman of Ducks Unlimited Committee. He presently is a member of the Northeast Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs Association, the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association and the Conservation Officers of Pennsylvania Association.
An avid outdoorsman, Palmer hunts, fishes and trains hunting dogs, and has mentored many family and friends - of all ages - in hunting and fishing. He is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Hunting Spaniel Club.
In 1995, Palmer was presented with the Game Commission Outstanding Employee Award. Palmer and his wife, Wendy, currently reside in Cleona, Lebanon County.
Created in 1895 as an independent state agency, the Game Commission is responsible for conserving and managing all wild birds and mammals in the Commonwealth, establishing hunting seasons and bag limits, enforcing hunting and trapping laws, and managing habitat on the 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands it has purchased over the years with hunting and furtaking license dollars to safeguard wildlife habitat. The agency also conducts numerous wildlife conservation programs for schools, civic organizations and sportsmen's clubs.
The Game Commission does not receive any general state taxpayer dollars for its annual operating budget. The agency is funded by license sales revenues; the state's share of the federal Pittman-Robertson program, which is an excise tax collected through the sale of sporting arms and ammunition; and monies from the sale of oil, gas, coal, timber and minerals derived from State Game Lands.