A South Florida squad of investigators was recently awarded the 2008 “Team of the Year” by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Division of Law Enforcement. The team includes Lt. Alfredo Escanio, and investigators Manual Pomares, Maria Forrest, Andrew Carcasses, Jeff Burke, William Trubey and Arthur Matson.

“I am very proud of this team,” said Col. Julie Jones, FWC’s Law Enforcement commander. “They exemplify the kind of people this agency is made of—professional, dedicated and adaptable.”

This team of officers covered boating fatalities in three of the most active counties in the state—Miami-Dade, Broward and Collier. Between January and July, the team investigated the deaths of 18 people related to boating accidents and drowning.

Other key operations the team was a part of included “Operation Grouper Gate” and “Operation Git-‘em Feeding.” Operation Grouper Gate targeted the illegal buying and selling of fish, specifically grouper. An FWC release stated officers and investigators issued 38 misdemeanor charges, 47 written warnings for violations and seized more than 2,000 pounds of illegal product as evidence.

In Operation Git-‘em, the South Region team investigated Broward County tour boat operators who were suspected of feeding alligators. They collaborated with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to make several arrests for feeding alligators.

During the past year, the workload increased because of understaffing and a spike in boating fatalities. But an additional duty for the team included browsing Internet sites that might have inadvertently posted photographs and videos of fish and wildlife law violations. FWC investigators used video links and photos from the Florida Sportsman Fishing Forum to charge a captain and first mate out of Port Everglades with the illegal harvest of a great white shark.

“This state is lucky to have people of this caliber serving them,” Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto said. “You might say that FWC officers aren’t your average ‘Joes’ or ‘Janes’—they’re special people.”