2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 17 - Game and Fish and Outdoor Recreation
Article 1 - State Game Commission
Section 17-1-8 - Qualifications of reserve conservation officers.]

Reserve conservation officer commissions shall be issued only to the following:

A. persons who have successfully completed a school of at least twenty-five hours, conducted by the department of game and fish, covering procedures and techniques of wildlife management, law enforcement, public relations and such other subjects as may be deemed desirable by the department of game and fish.

B. the director may substitute a minimum of six months experience as an employee of a state or federal conservation agency or a state livestock law enforcement board in lieu of the aforementioned schooling. Any substitution made under the provisions of this paragraph shall be limited to personnel currently employed by one of the aforementioned conservation agencies. Any appointments the director may make under the provisions of this paragraph will terminate automatically with the termination of employment by said agency of the individual so appointed or the individual's transfer from the state.

History: 1953 Comp., § 53-1-5.3, enacted by Laws 1955, ch. 181, § 2.

Instruction but not classroom school is required. — The statute does not require the "school" to be of the classroom type; the "school" of experience can ensure qualified reserve conservation officers as well as a classroom. If the persons in question have actual instruction as employees of the department in the subject areas of procedures and techniques of wildlife management, law enforcement, public relations and other subjects deemed desirable by the department, those persons have attended "school" in those subjects, an on-the-job training school conducted by the department. Mere employment by the department without instruction in each of those areas will not satisfy the statutory requirements. 1959-60 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 60-214.