Local Park Ranger Named Enforcement Officer Of The Year

District Park Ranger Pete Mitchum, with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) State Parks Division, was recently awarded the Alabama Conservation Enforcement Officers Association Enforcement Officer of the Year Award. Mitchum’s law enforcement career began in 1994 with a sheriff’s department in South Carolina. He worked patrol, K-9 and narcotics before being hired by the U.S. State Department in 2006 as a police advisor to the Afghanistan National Police. He then worked as a bomb-detection dog handler before working as an ADCNR Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries conservation enforcement officer with Perry County and then Escambia and Mobile counties. He was then hired as district park ranger with Alabama State Parks to cover the Southwest District, which includes Gulf State Park and Meaher State Park at the head of Mobile Bay. Mitchum oversees two park rangers and six security personnel, with another park ranger scheduled to join the staff on February 1.