Impersonating a Game Warden?

I am a Registered Maine Guide, and I've discovered that in many unsophisticated people's eyes that seems like the same thing as being a game warden. I am always quick to set these confused folks straight by pointing out that wardens are sworn law enforcement officers charged with upholding all sorts of laws. Guides take you fishing and hunting.

Until today, I've never even heard the suggestion that someone might actually pretend to be a warden for nefarious purposes (or not, as you'll soon see). I just received this press release from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (sorry no link). It demonstrates just how weird things can get in the Maine woods:

A Limerick man on Sunday was charged with filing a false report of a crime after Maine Game Wardens in the York County area spent most of last week investigating a report that the man was checked by two men impersonating game wardens while out hunting.

District Game Warden Eric Blanchard last week received a complaint that Justin Nichols, 26, of Limerick had been checked by two game wardens in a manner that was not consistent with current Maine Warden Service policies and procedures. Warden Blanchard reported the complaint to his supervisor, Sgt. Tim Spahr, who was unaware of any game wardens working in the area at the time of the alleged incident.

An intense “impersonating an officer” investigation was initiated after it was confirmed that no game wardens were in fact working at that time near the location of the incident. As part of the investigation, Nichols was interviewed several times. During those interviews, Nichols maintained that two men between 40 and 50 years old who were wearing green wool jackets with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife patches on the shoulders had aggressively approached him, asked for his hunting license, and took his firearm. He further maintained that his license and firearm were returned and no “enforcement” action was taken.

Although Nichols was exact on some details of the alleged encounter, other specifics led investigators to ask Nichols to submit to a polygraph examination, according to Maine Warden Service Major Gregory Sanborn, Deputy Chief Game Warden. It was only after the appointment was set for Nichols to take the test that he admitted to Warden Blanchard that the whole story had been fabricated, Sanborn said.

“The Maine Warden Service took this complaint very seriously,” Sanborn said. “Maine Game Wardens work hard to enforce the laws and catch game law violators but are directed to do so in a manner that is respectful and courteous. The initial report was that this did not occur, and the investigation reveled statements made by Nichols to local hunters that would cause the average person to doubt the credibility of their local Game Wardens. Subsequent information was that there may have two men in the area pretending they are Game Wardens. Neither situation tends to build public trust in an enforcement agency.”

Nichols was charged Sunday for False Report of a Crime, which is a class “D” misdemeanor.

“As long as there have been hunters and Game Wardens, some hunters have been telling tales about their encounters Game Wardens,” Sanborn said. “Unfortunately, it appears that this tall tale got out of hand, crossed the legal line and cost the state resources that already are stretched thin in order to get to the bottom of it.”

I think this bizarre episode might have a place in a future Mike Bowditch novel.

Conservation Officer Killed in Pennsylvania

David GroveI've been late posting on this incident in Pennsylvania. Someone mentioned it to me in passing at the New England Crime Bake mystery conference this weekend where, ironically, I was asked to speak about the challenge of writing realistic police procedurals.

Today, several readers of my book have sent me links to this breaking news story. The lede reads like something I actually wrote for The Poacher's Son:

It's a dangerous job. Along with checking hunting licenses, responding to nuisance deer complaints and disposing of road kill, wildlife conservation officers with the Pennsylvania Game Commission serve arrest warrants, confront armed trespassers and disarm wildlife poachers, sometimes while alone at night on remote country roads.

That's what Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove was doing about 10:30 p.m. Thursday in a rural part of southcentral Pennsylvania when he was shot and killed by a suspected poacher. He was the first Game Commission official killed in the line of duty in 95 years.

A suspect has been arrested in the killing. Grove managed to shoot one of his assailants before he died. Due process means that convicted felon Christopher Lynn Johnson, 27, should be presumed innocent until he's convicted in a court of law, but police did find him hiding at a deer camp with a gunshot wound to the side. 

Beyond that, what can you say? The story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reads like it's quoting chapter and verse from my novel. It's a disturbing experience to feel prescient about something like this.

I offer my deepest condolences to Officer Grove's family, friends, and colleagues.

Flight Time

I have a new Editor's Note up over at the day job, recounting a visit I received recently from a childhood friend who just got back from Iraq. He's a retired Marine and a flight instructor, and he gave me my first lesson in piloting a plane. It was one of the funnest things I've done this year. I can see how addictive flying must be. It's a good thing my life is so crazy busy because the last thing I need is another addiction. 

Sherlock

Last year I bemoaned Guy Ritchie's reinvention of Sherlock Holmes as a nineteenth-century James Bond (although when I did actually see the film, I enjoyed it). Yes, Conan Doyle describes Holmes as an expert in boxing and single-stick fighting, but he wasn't an action hero per se. The fun of reading a Holmes story is watching him use his singular powers of deduction not break some guy's nose with a karate chop. 

Which is why "Sherlock," now airing on PBS, is such a pleasure. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have reimagined the great detective for the twenty-first century. Holmes, played by an actor with the Dickensian name of Benedict Cumberbatch, uses texting, GPS, and a knowledge of traffic signals to solve crimes. Watson is once again a doctor invalided out of the Afghan campaign; only he's a veteran of our current war in Afghanistan and he writes a blog instead of magazine articles. (Watson is played by the wonderful Martin Freeman who was Jim in the original British version of "The Office" and is about to become famous around the world when he stars as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's big-screen adaptations of The Hobbit).

The reason the TV series "Sherlock" is superior to the movie Sherlock Holmes is that it understands its characters so much better. Cumberbatch's Holmes is the brilliant, "high-functioning sociopath" familiar to us from A Study in Scarlet. Freeman's Watson is not some dope (sorry Nigel Bruce) but an intelligent everyman who craves adventure more than he realizes. And, as a real plus, the mysteries are actually quite ingenious as well. Definitely worth watching. 

The World of Tomorrow

Eric, over at Pimp My Novel, has dusted off his crystal ball and his spending the week gazing into the future of publishing. And, as usual, his observations seem eerily clairvoyant. Here are four of his predictions.

On eBooks:

I've been known to tout the year 2015 as the point in time when e-book sales will reach parity with physical book sales; that is, the point where e-books will comprise 50% of the market. Given the current rate of growth, however, I'm now more inclined to estimate parity occurring in late 2013 or early 2014.

Parity means that fewer physical books will be produced, although I strongly disagree with industry professionals who believe it will be a one-to-one correspondence (e.g. the market can only support 200,000 copies of a given title, so if 100,000 are sold as e-books, only 100,000 will be sold in physical form). I am convinced that hardcover buyers and e-book aficionados are, at least for the time being, almost entirely separate markets, and moreover that e-books are encouraging non-readers to read, not converting current readers wholesale to the e-format. All this to say: greater e-book sales will, à mon avis, mean more sales overall, not the same number of sales split different ways.

On self-publishing:

Finally, there seems to be this rumor floating around that the rise of the e-book and the sophistication of current POD systems (where physical books are concerned) will not only make editors, literary agents, and publishing houses obsolete, but will usher in a Golden Age of Publishing where a true merit-based democracy will rule, and the reading public will determine, by show of electronic hands clutching electronic dollars, who will succeed and who won't. No more gatekeepers; no more insiders and outsiders.

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As I said earlier, the sheer volume of voices competing for attention guarantees that a system of separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff will be necessary. Consumer recommendation systems (like those employed by Amazon) are helpful, but insufficient; people often give five-star and one-star ratings to books for nepotistic, spiteful, or downright bizarre reasons, and while this might not affect titles with large followings (read: established brands), it can wreak havoc on lesser-reviewed titles. Which, if branding is determined by consumer review, will be all of them.

All this to say: there has to be a way of identifying, cultivating, and branding talent such that the fresh, engaging, and important voices are heard, and the rest are left to their own devices. While word of mouth is a necessary condition for this to occur in a free market, I don't think it's sufficient. Another filter is necessary, and that filter is the publisher.

On the Big Shrink:

As print runs decrease and e-books become the norm, it will 1.) be increasingly fiscally feasible for smaller operations to turn out a greater number of books, and 2.) no longer require that there be so much specialization and segmentation within the industry. A new, "boutique" literary enterprise employing a few literary agents, editors, tech gurus, and a small staff of on-line marketing and sales folks will be able to do the e-work currently undertaken by individual agencies, publishers, and retailers. Why sign with an agent, have him/her pitch to a house, and have that house deal with the logistics of selling it through myriad channels (often requiring greatly varied and/or incompatible information and file types) when you can get it all in one place?

On the Indy Renaissance:

As the economy begins to recover and the e-revolution continues, I think it's pretty unavoidable that 1.) the chains will continue to close underperforming stores, 2.) existing indepedent book stores will begin to see their sales recover, and 3.) more money will be available for the creation of new small businesses (indie booksellers included).

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The independent book store of tomorrow will be able to cheaply print copies of books that it doesn't have in stock, will be able to offer access to e-books, will promote local authors and host events, and will actively participate in on-line discussions about literature via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. They will adapt to changes in culture and technology, and they will continue to be relevant so long as reading remains relevant.

Like Eric, I tend to think reading is going to remain relevant for a while—on whatever device we end up doing it. He has many more provocative prognostications on his site. You should go visit the World of Tomorrow yourself.