Lake County's state wildlife officer takes new post

Moving up in the world of wildlife law enforcement in Ohio is Tom Rowan of Concord Township.

Rowan is becoming the new law enforcement supervisor for the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s District Three (Northeast Ohio) office in Akron. He will assume that role immediately after Ohio’s firearm’s deer-hunting season which runs Nov. 29 to Dec. 5.

A 15-year veteran of the Wildlife Division, Rowan also was a Chardon police officer.
During his Wildlife Division tenure, Rowan started out in 1996 as the state wildlife officer assigned to Lake County before moving on to take the same position in Ashtabula County.

From there Rowan took a posting in Columbus as the agency’s training officer for prospective wildlife officers. He then returned to Lake County in 2005 as its assigned wildlife officer.

“I don’t like to stay in one place to long,” Rowan said with a chuckle.

As the district’s law enforcement supervisor Rowan will take up responsibilities that focus on coordinating the law enforcement duties in the District's 19 counties.

“I’ll have four investigators working directly under me as well as working with the various county wildlife officers, but in a law enforcement capacity only,” Rowan said.

A native of Fairport Harbor Village, Rowan now considers Concord Township his home. His wife, Sabrina, is a teacher with the Fairport Harbor Exempted Village School District. They have one daughter, 13-year-old Macey, who accompanied her father on a successful Wyoming pronghorn antelope hunt earlier this fall.

“I think I might have had it a little easier than most other officers who come to Lake County because this is where I’m from,” Rowan also said.

A replacement for Rowan may be named within the next few weeks but likely won't come aboard until late December or early January, said Doug Miller, the District's manager.

It is Miller's old job that Rowan is taking.

"Tom's a great asset with more than 20 years of law enforcement experience and has lived his entire life in District Three," Miller said. "He's certainly been one of our best officer trainers and is a true professional."


- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com