(UPDATED) COVID-19 not stopping Ohio Division of Wildlife's cadets training

Ohio’s 12 wildlife officer cadets just made it under the state’s hiring freeze wire though they are still feeling the impact of the cronoavirus (COVID-19).

Hired from an initial field of 931 applicants, the 12 cadet became on-line, at-home students, utilizing Microsoft Teams programming for interaction with Ohio Division of Wildlife instructors and officials, says the agency’s cadet training officer/law enforcement program administrator, Jim Quinlivan.

“We were very fortunate in that our cadets were hired February 3^rd before the freeze went into effect,” Quinlivan said. “Filling all the vacant counties with an officer was a high priority not just with us but with the Governor as well.”

Quinlivan said this particular group of cadets – the agency’s 30^th such class with the first one having been conducted in 1951 – is diverse. It includes persons ranging in age from 21 to 42, one female, several with previous law enforcement experience including with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and several with previous Wildlife Division job titles under their belts, Quinlivan said.

Among the cadets is Zack Hillman, son of the late Phil Hillman, a Wildlife Division fisheries biologist from Akron who often became the face of the agency’s steelhead fisheries program.

Too, says Quinlivan, he is seeing how these cadets are no just interested in hunting and fishing in general “but expressed interest in fly fishing, kayak fishing, waterfowling, mountain biking, the whole range of outdoors experiences.”

Quinlivan said that diversity is important, too, because it means that once the cadets put on the badge they will “be able to communicate well with everyone.”

Beginning today (May 18th) the cadets were back in class in Columbus for their on-going training, Quinlivan said.

And any cadet without a law enforcement endorsement also will be required to attend the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy for that additional work, Quinlivan said.

“The cadets were kept very busy during the Governor’s stay-at-home orders, though I missed the daily interaction with them,” Quinlivan said. “But that’s world we are now living in.”

Quinlivan said the class ultimately will graduate in September, a bit later than was expected, the delay being caused by the fallout from the COVID-19 experience.

In all, seven of the cadets will go to counties now vacant of an officer assigned to them while the remaining cadets will find themselves in so-called “at-large” postings in the five Wildlife Division districts around the state, Quinlivan says.

Those assignments have all ready been made, too, Quinlivan said.

Once they begin their duties as commissioned officers, each of the graduates will earn a starting annual salary of $51,813.

“We are very pleased with the caliber of applicants we received, and we took the best of the best,” Quinlivan said.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com