PRESS RELEASE

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

DAVID Y. IGE

GOVERNOR

SUZANNE D. CASE

CHAIRPERSON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 21, 2016

STATEMENT FROM CHAIR SUZANNE CASE ON DOCARE CHIEF’S RESIGNATION

(HONOLULU) - DLNR Chair Suzanne Case applauded the efforts of DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) Chief Thomas Friel in his brief tenure leading the agency. Case accepted Friel’s resignation, effective June 27. Friel joined DOCARE late last fall, after a long career in federal conservation resource law enforcement.

Case said, “Chief Friel helped move our resource conservation enforcement efforts forward by focusing on resource violations and on DOCARE officers not only as enforcers of Hawaii’s laws and rules, but also as protectors of our precious natural and cultural resources.” “I’m also grateful,” Case added, “that under Chief Friel’s leadership the division supported stepped-up law enforcement presence and activities in the hugely popular Napali Coast State Wilderness Park, undertook internal reviews of operations, and led DoCARE’s investigations of natural resource violations. Those are just a few of the positive, forward-thinking moves that occurred during Chief Friel’s tenure.”

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