206:26. Powers.
The executive director, if certified as a police officer in accordance with RSA 106-L:5, V, and each conservation officer, shall have the power:
I. To enforce all laws, rules and regulations relating to all wildlife, and to go upon any property outside of buildings, posted or otherwise, in the performance of their duties;
II. To execute all warrants and search warrants, based on probable cause, for the violation of laws, rules and regulations relating to all wildlife;
III. To serve subpoenas issued for the trial of all offenses against the laws, rules and regulations relating to all wildlife;
IV. To carry firearms or other weapons, concealed or otherwise, in the performance of their duties;
V. To arrest without warrant, but based on probable cause, and on view any person found violating any law, rule or regulation relating to all wildlife, take such person before a court having jurisdiction for trial, and detain such person in custody at the expense of the state until trial;
VI. To stop and to search without a warrant and to examine in the field, in the highway, at an airbase or on the stream, any person, or any boat, conveyance, aircraft, vehicle, gamebag, game coat, creel, crate, box, locker or other receptacle, in the presence of the owner if reasonably possible, or any so-called fish house or bob-house, in the presence of the occupant, for all wildlife, when there is reasonable and articulable suspicion to believe that any wildlife, or any illegal apparatus subject to forfeiture, is concealed thereon or therein;
VII. To secure and execute search warrants, based on probable cause, and in pursuance thereof, to enter any building, enclosure, vehicle or car, and to break open any apartment, chest, locker, box, trunk, crate, basket, bag, package or container, and to examine the contents thereof;
VIII. To seize and take possession of all wildlife, which has been caught, taken or killed, or had in possession, or under control, or which has been shipped or is about to be shipped, at any time, in any manner, or for any purpose, contrary to the laws of this state and to dispose of all wildlife which has been confiscated, seized or picked up for any reason, in a manner prescribed by the executive director, unless otherwise authorized by the court exercising proper jurisdiction;
IX. To seize all fishing tackle, guns, shooting and hunting paraphernalia, hunting or fishing licenses, traps, boats, decoys or other appliances used in violation of any law or rule relating to all wildlife when making an arrest, or found in the execution of a search warrant, and hold the same at the owner's expense until the fine and costs imposed for the violation have been paid in full;
X. To caution persons of the danger from fires in the forests and to extinguish a fire left burning, to give notice to the forest fire warden and interested parties of fires threatening to extend beyond control, and assume all lawful powers of a fire warden pending the fire warden's arrival;
XI. To enforce the laws relating to snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, trespass on posted lands, motor vehicles blocking private ways, vandalism and malicious damage to property and livestock, use and transportation of firearms for hunting, bob houses, boats, dogs at large, breaking and entering and larceny in remote areas, protection of the environment, littering and dumping;
XII. To conduct search and rescue operations in woodlands and inland waters and to provide security at the sites thereof, and to enforce recovery of expenses under RSA 206:26-bb;
XIII. In emergencies upon their requests, to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies;
XIV. To have and exercise the powers and privileges granted by RSA 594 as to matters within their jurisdiction under this section; and
XV. To enforce all provisions of RSA title XXI relative to motor vehicle laws, absent any violation or suspected violation of fish and game laws, with the same authority and powers as any other certified law enforcement officer in the state.
Source. 1935, 123:1. 1937, 188:2. 1941, 126:1. RL 240:25. 1947, 165:1. 1949, 52:1. 1951, 48:1. RSA 206:26. 1971, 139:1. 1975, 340:3. 1977, 64:1. 1994, 142:1. 1995, 51:2. 1998, 252:7. 2008, 167:1, eff. June 6, 2008. 2012, 209:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2013. 2014, 249:1, 2, eff. Sept. 19, 2014. 2017, 206:11, eff. Sept. 8, 2017.
