New York has 31 new environmental conservation officers and nine new forest rangers.
The Department of Environmental Conservation says they all graduated from the agency's 21st Basic School for Uniformed Officers and received diplomas Friday.
The academy ran for 28 weeks with training and coursework in environmental conservation law, physical conditioning, firearms, wildlife identification, search and rescue, wildfire suppression and other skills.
Across the state in 2016, environmental conservation officers responded to over 26,000 calls and issued 22,000 tickets for crimes ranging from deer poaching to corporate toxic dumping and illegal mining.
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