Tenbarge
Joe Tenbarge grew up in the Boy Scouts, hunting and fishing, and knew then that he wanted his career to be in law enforcement.
Tenbarge achieved that dream. He began working as a conservation officer in 2011. He is assigned to Brown County as part of a nine county district.
Tenbarge was recognized for his service to his community last month when he was named the 2021 District 6 Officer of the year by Department of Natural Resources.
His initiation into law enforcement was with the U.S. Coast Guard reserves. When presented the opportunity to intern with the Indiana Conservation Officers in 2010, he took the leap.
He applied as an officer the following year and has been serving the state ever since.
District 6 includes Brown, Bartholomew, Hancock, Marion, Monroe, Morgan, Johnson and Shelby counties. There are 19 conservation officers working in the district.
He transferred to Brown County from Kosciusko County in 2013.
Conservation officers are state officers, but not state troopers. They enforce criminal and traffic law on state properties and highways while also enforcing fish, wildlife and hunting laws.
Not only does Tenbarge serve as a field officer, he’s also served as a public safety diver, background investigator, sonar operator, standard field sobriety test instructor, certified boating instructor through National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and field training officer.
The district award puts Tenbarge in the running for the Pitzer Award, which is given to the top overall conservation officer in the state and is selected from the 10 district award winners.
The award is named after Conservation Officer James D. Pitzer, who was fatally shot while investigating illegal hunting activity on Jan. 2, 1961, in Jay County, according to a DNR press release.
Lt. Angela Goldman, the District 6 Commander, said that Tenbarge is an “outstanding and committed” officer, and a hard worker who can be counted on to work when needed.
She said he does not stop until the job is done and is always looking for ways to help his community.
“He doesn’t hesitate to put himself in harm’s way when he’s on a rescue mission and is tenacious when it comes to investigations in the field,” she said.
Over his more than decade-long career, Tenbarge said there have been a number of memorable calls and cases to which he’s responded.
He was involved in the case to recover Heather Steuver’s body in August in Columbus, after she was killed. He was also a part of the dive team who searched for and found 3-year-old Emma Sweet, who drowned in the White River in Columbus in November.
More recently, he was one of the officers involved in the rescue of 8-year-old Deziraye, who had been taken by her father from Nevada in August against a custody order. She was found last month in the Brown County State Park during a traffic stop Tenbarge helped to initiate.
In Brown County, Tenbarge said that as a conservation officer he works on water rescues, pulling people from submerged vehicles or flooded homes.
“(Conservation officers) are behind the scenes kind of guys,” he said. “We get in there and get the job done.”
“In Brown County, we’re fortunate that the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and Nashville Police Department and state officers work together for the end goal,” he said.
Tenbarge appreciates Brown County and the support and respect that locals have for law enforcement.
With Brown County as his county of assignment, Tenbarge said he tries to patrol here as much as possible, but can be in as many as five counties in one day.
“There’s a lot of movement going on,” he said. Covering a larger district makes the job “more exciting,” he said.
“In my 10 years, I’ve not dealt with the same call twice,” he said. “There’s a new and different aspect every time.”
