2007 Officer Of The Year
Brian Mies, Minnesota DNR Enforcement

I am honored to nominate Minnesota Conservation Officer of the Year, Brian Mies, for the 2007 NAWEOA Officer of the year award. Officer Mies is consistently one of the overall top performers for Minnesota's natural resources law enforcement effort, both in terms of quality and quantity. He maintains a high level of professionalism and relates well with the public during all enforcement contacts and has generated numerous comments from the public to his supervisor as to his integrity, ethics and fairness. Officer Mies excels at all aspects of natural resources law enforcement. He works with the public on intelligence gathering and fostering strong relationships in the community to build unified public support for natural resource law enforcement. Officer Mies has extensive personal and professional knowledge of game and fish, which enables him to discuss natural resource issues with local citizens with confidence and self-assurance. For example, he has always been interested in trapping and has gained extensive knowledge of Minnesota's fur bearers and is a member of the National Trappers' Association. He has instructed new conservation officers in fur recognition, trapping laws and investigative methods. He has been involved in many complex commercial investigations where this knowledge has been useful and important to protecting the fur resources. Officer Mies follows the Division's annual work plan by concentrating his efforts on identified department priorities. He tackles these priorities with enthusiasm and works hard to incorporate the priorities into his daily work. The local fisheries manager has expressed appreciation regarding Officer Mies extra efforts on numerous special regulation lakes in Wright and Stearns Counties. Officer Mies' work ethic is used by his supervisor as a role model for new officers. In the best interest of our natural resources, he flexes his work hours to accommodate the changing seasons and requirements to meet the demands of natural resource law enforcement. He maximizes his efforts and effectiveness, putting him in the right place at the right time to deter and apprehend violators during peak activity periods. Some conservation officers had admiringly joked about Officer Mies "having a horseshoe in his back pocket" when it comes to detecting natural resource violations. With Officer Mies it is simply a matter of working smarter and harder. Officer Mies' investigative skills are outstanding. Officers throughout the region utilize his interviewing techniques. He has handled some of the most involved, complex cases with ease including multi-state cooperative investigations, large-scale commercial violations, and many more serious fish and wildlife offenses. Officer Mies is very aggressive in his enforcement of laws that protect fish and wildlife habitat, such as the Wetland Conservation Act and Environmental laws. He regularly issues wetland cease and desist orders, and seeks wetland restoration compliance to protect our valuable wetland resources. Some of his cases have been very in-depth and time consuming. Officer Mies' work to protect wetland habitat has earned him the respect of local government officials and resulted in his winning the Division's Wetlands Enforcement Officer of the Year Award. Officer Mies works closely with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and county environmental officials on environmental law enforcement, which includes cases involving two very large illegal landfills. This overall emphasis on natural resources protection exemplifies his holistic approach and "big picture" view of natural resources law enforcement. Officer Mies has been a Field Training Officer for the last six years and instructs and evaluates new conservation offices. His experience, knowledge, skills and interpersonal abilities have made him and outstanding FTO and he has always received high praise from recruits who have been under his guidance. He is looked up to by fellow conservation officers who seek Officer Mies out for advice on investigations, law interpretations and general knowledge about fish and wildlife, enforcement and natural resources issues. Officer Mies regularly incorporates other officers into focused work teams and provides a sense of leadership and solidarity to the District Team concept. Officer Mies provides ongoing training opportunities for area officer on furs, fur bearer habitat and trapping techniques. Officer Mies works closely with area wildlife personnel. He keeps them informed on what is going on in around state wildlife management areas, provides contacts and information regarding wildlife habitat acquisition opportunities, updates wildlife staff on hunting-related issues and provides excellent support to the department's non-game program. State wildlife professionals honored him in 2003 with the award for Wildlife Officer of the Year from the Minnesota Chapter of the Wildlife Society. Officer Mies embraces the Turn-In-Poachers program. He handles TIP calls with enthusiasm and loves to investigate "after-the-fact" violators or poachers who might mistakenly believe that they got away. For his outstanding efforts in the investigations of TIP violations, Officer Mies was awarded TIP's Conservation Officer of the Year in 2000. Officer Mies has built an excellent relationship with local law enforcement agencies through hard work, open and honest communication and by providing cooperative assistance to them when called upon. He has worked with these agencies on teaching recreational enforcement, search warrants, felony violations in progress, fleeing fugitives, domestics abuse and search and rescue requests. Officer Mies instructs at all of the DNR administered safety classes in his area. He enjoys working with youth and is active with his volunteer instructors. He has organized new ATV safety courses in his area so young ATV operators can get the proper training to keep them safe and legal. He receives many accolades from area educators for his work in the schools. He works with the school officials, students and parents to facilitate and encourage area students to work in the field of natural resources by encouraging ride-alongs so they can get a first-hand look at the job. He is an instructor at Wright County's "Conservation Days" every year, where his abilities as an instructor reach every elementary student in the county. Officer Mies is often asked to teach at area elementary schools about trapping and fur. Officer Mies has accumulated a collection of different furs over the years and had them tanned at his own expense. He takes them to schools and shows student what each animal looks like and talks about their habits and habitat requirements. Officer Mies has a philosophy that even a violation contact is an opportunity to provide education. When encountering youthful violators, Officer Mies takes the time during the contact to utilize it as a positive encounter by explaining the laws and the need for safety. He does follow-ups with youthful violators' parents when necessary to help reinforce our laws and encourage safe hunting and recreational practices. Officer Mies takes every opportunity to talk with citizens face-to-face and through numerous media contacts. He explains laws, serves as a lightning rod for larger department issues, reinforces the Department's mission and even tells them where the fish are biting and what methods are working best. Officer Brian is the consummate professional and is a model for the sort of Conservation Officer that all of our officers should strive to become.