Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Lt. George Pottorf and his squad of four officers have captured the agency’s 2009 Team of the Year award for the agency’s Division of Law Enforcement.

The Putnam County-based officers won the designation because of their professionalism, perseverance and team effort during the past year.

Pottorf’s four-man team is composed of FWC officers Ben Eason, Mike Florence, Jeff Hickman and Mark Tharp. Although they are based in Putnam County, their primary patrol area is the St. Johns River and eight counties through which the mighty river runs, including Putnam, St. Johns, Marion, Lake, Volusia, Clay, Duval and Flagler counties.

“Lt. Pottorf supports partnering with other agencies to accomplish the FWC Division of Law Enforcement’s goals,” said Capt. Chris Roszkowiak, supervisor for the area Lt. Pottorf’s squad patrols. “Toward that end, he and his crew work closely with, and train with, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, those eight counties’ sheriff’s offices and with local stakeholders at every level.”

Examples of some of their activities within the community include working with Dock Holiday Boat Rentals & Sales to form a recreational boating club, which promotes local boating activities, safe boating education and family involvement. Individuals must pass the Boat Smart boating safety exam and obtain the Boat Save Identification Card in order to become a member of the club.

In Operation Stake Holder, Lt. Pottorf identified a problem where local commercial fisherman were losing non-biodegradable PVC pipe used to hold their nets. At the same time, the local state park was having a problem with invasive, exotic bamboo overgrowth. Lt. Pottorf put the fishermen and the park people together, and as a result, the fishermen got new, biodegradable bamboo stakes to hold their nets, while the park got a helping hand removing the invasive, exotic plant from its land.

The team has been very successful in providing manatee enforcement and conducting ongoing details, such as Operation Sea Cow Shield, which provides continuing multi-agency enforcement and education to boaters.

In order to help people learn the requirements to use recreational crab traps, the team continued a successful program called Project Trap. In this project, officers discovered that retailers who were selling crab traps were not advising people of the legal requirements for their use. As a result of the team’s educational efforts, the retailers now provide the requirements along with the traps, resulting in more recreational crabbers complying with the law.

In Project TAP (Trooper Awareness Program) the team expanded opportunities to bring resource violators to justice by training state troopers on what resource violations to look for during traffic stops.

To help local commercial fishermen comply with federal commercial safety equipment requirements, the team initiated an educational effort they dubbed Project CAP.

Derelict vessels, (abandoned vessels) are a problem in waterways throughout the state. Lt. Pottorf and his team’s proactive approach to discouraging and eliminating derelict vessels is evident from the lack of such vessels in his patrol area. His squad developed Project Anchor Light, which addresses violations of anchored boats in his area. These are the first to become derelict vessels.

Lt. Pottorf and his squad developed the River Directory and Patrol Reference CD, a guide to marinas, fish camps and other businesses that cater to boaters in the eight-county area. The guide includes the names of business owners, physical and GPS locations and services offered. The guide proved useful in helping responders locate an airplane that crashed into the St. Johns River.

The list of projects that Lt. Pottorf and his team have developed and implemented goes on and on and addresses such things as active warrants, pollution, boating and driving under the influence, deadhead logging, blue crab trap robbing and drugs.

The squad also has an ongoing annual outreach event at the E.H. Miller School for disadvantaged kids. The kids are handicapped, and each year Lt. Pottorf’s crew takes FWC equipment into the school along with a K-9 unit and an alligator for the kids to see and touch.

In addition to the proactive educational outreach projects, Lt. Pottorf and his squad wrote 1,005 citations and 1,489 warnings during the past fiscal year, demonstrating proactive law enforcement.

“His crew has set the bar for others to follow as he empowers and encourages his people to set up proactive details, and he encourages a team concept with our partner agencies,” said Maj. Jack Daugherty, FWC law enforcement commander for the Northeast Region. “This overall team approach fosters inter-agency law enforcement service in accomplishing the FWC mission.”