Law Enforcement Headlines

Shikar-Safari Club International Wildlife Officer of the Year Award

From Chief Warden Randy Stark - I am honored to announce that Warden Supervisor Dave Zebro has been selected to receive the Shikar-Safari Club International Wildlife Officer of the Year Award for Wisconsin. This award recognizes Dave's excellence as a warden supervisor, his selfless work ethic on behalf of the warden service, the Department and the people of the State of Wisconsin, and his contributions to continuing the tradition of the progressive thinking in the warden service.

Dave leads by example in many ways. He is progressive and works hard to continuously improve his skills, knowledge and abilities. This is critical in a rapidly changing world. For example, recently Dave attended the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command. Dave is now currently attending the DNR Leadership Academy. Dave brings what he learns back to the warden service and applies it to make us a better organization.

Dave is a respected and competent supervisor and law enforcement officer. He has earned the respect of the people on his team.
Dave addresses team related issues in a timely and appropriate manner. He is constantly working with his wardens to build camaraderie on the team and achieve a high level of performance on an individual and team basis. He does this through team training along with individual mentoring and coaching.

Dave continuously uses his leadership abilities in pursuit of goals that benefit the public, his team, the warden service, and the Department overall. For example, Dave is intricately involved in the recruitment, hiring and training of new recruits. He was one of the supervisors who lead the Snowmobile Accident Reduction Team this past winter to reduce snowmobile fatalities. Dave works with other program staff to identify and resolve issues and accomplish goals of local, regional and statewide importance.

Over the past year, Dave put assembled and led a team which developed and implemented an electronic complaint data base. This database put all of the complaint information on statewide basis at the fingertips of all credentialed staff through their laptop computers. Dave worked tirelessly on this project which had a relatively short window of opportunity. Dave knew what the system capabilities needed to be and worked with the contractor and wardens from around the state to make it work. He then went to every region in the state and instructed wardens how the system worked. During these training sessions he received feedback which he then utilized to improve upon the system. As of now the system is up and running and being utilized statewide. This was a great example of progressive and adaptive leadership in action.

Dave always has a positive attitude. He is a pleasure to work with and an outstanding ambassador for the Department and the warden service.