Billy Doss is an Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation officer. He is assigned to District 4, which encompasses 11 counties, including Hamilton. Conservation officers have statewide jurisdiction and full police powers.
One of 214 Indiana conservation officers within the DNR’s Law Enforcement Division, Doss said he primarily works in the Noblesville and Geist areas, which include Morse and Geist reservoirs.
Doss, who is coming up on 15 years of service, recently answered the following questions for Current about the challenges of his job.
How would you describe your job?
It’s unique. Every day is different. It’s a lot of liberty, solely based on us not only filing complaints in our community and county, but (also) addressing ongoing issues in the field. The rest of the time is (spent) checking our constituents, (who are) our fishermen, hunters and boaters.
How did you end up working in District 4?
It’s been different in the past. When (I was) hired, the ideology was that they wanted us to learn the job away from our family and friends. I was stationed in the Fort Wayne district for almost two years. I did that (to) learn the job without any influences from the community or friends. The department changed around 2011 to the mentality of not uprooting people from their families but hiring quality people who could fit them in their community if they can.
What’s the job trail to get to where you are?
You have to meet the minimum requirements, (including) being 21 years of age, to carry a gun for the state. It’s a high school diploma or four years of active military time. There must be a very high experience in hunting and fishing. The hiring process is about 8 months or so. You do a background investigation, a physical test, a fishing test, a written test and then there are several interviews. If you make it through that, you get selected to go to the recruit school. If you can make it through physically and mentally and graduate, you make it to the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. We can do anything as far as (enforcing) state law, but our main focus is fishing, hunting, wildlife and boating.
What does a typical day look like for you?
There isn’t one. I might go from a drowning call to a house on fire that I’m close to, to an ATV crash, to a problem at one of the state parks. It’s 11 counties in our district. I might run from Hamilton County to Richmond or Kokomo. You never know.
What are the best parts of your job?
Occasionally, we arrest people or address a situation and educate someone, and we get thanked for it. I can recall several people I’ve arrested and taken to jail for drunk driving on a lake or in a car, and I see them at the gas station, and they’re in tears. They want to thank me because it changed their life. Mostly, we impact a lot of kids with our education programs. I impact 200 kids (yearly) through the boater education program and introduction to hunting and fishing, ATV safety, water safety and survival.
What are some of those tough parts of the job?
You work in the community and take an oath to enforce the law. There are people you arrest who are family, friends, acquaintances and important people in the community. It’s always a touchy situation. The other thing is the number of deaths. There are a lot of accidents in nature. We’re the ones that deal with that and notify the families. That weighs on a lot of officers.
Are there any parts of the job that you have to accept regardless of how you feel?
(I’ll be in my 15th year of service) this October. There’s been many moments where I’ve been given kudos or awards. To be fair, I was given the training and ability to serve the public. (The public) gave me the opportunity to serve my community and trained me to do certain things. Not only does the community look at you as an officer in green, they look at you as an expert. You become a valued member of the community.
How much fun do you have with your job?
There’s a ton of fun. We laugh a lot. We joke with people. Our job is to bring people to compliance and show them how to ethically and legally enjoy the natural resources we have. When that happens, it’s good for everybody. We’ve had funny things happen. We fall in the water. We fall and get all muddy. We do silly things where if the public saw it, they would laugh with us. If you can’t have fun (at) your job, it would be very mundane.
For more, visit in.gov/dnr/law-enforcement/contact-us/.
