The state's toll-free hotline for reporting game and fish violations, 1-800-NET-GAME, is a thing of the past.

I don't think anyone will lament its passing.

Division of Natural Resources officials announced a new reporting procedure earlier this week. It's simple and will undoubtedly be much faster.

People who suspect violations might have occurred should contact the nearest DNR regional law enforcement office. Those numbers are 304-825-6787 for the District I office in Farmington, 304-822-3551 for the District II office in Romney, 304-637-0245 for the District III office in Elkins, 304-256-6945 for the District IV office in Beckley, 304-759-0703 for the District V office in Nitro, and 304-420-4550 for the District VI office in Parkersburg.

People who wish to report emergencies, or violations actually in progress, should simply dial 911. The 911 call center operators are supposed to quickly pass the information along to conservation officers.

Comments I've seen on Internet chat rooms since the change took place range from "it's about time" to "how do I remember all those numbers" to "it took me only a few seconds to punch those numbers into my cell phone's speed dialer."

The old toll-free system was kludgy at best. The people who answered the NET-GAME "hotline" weren't state employees; they worked for an answering service.

"The way it was supposed to work was if [the answering service] got a complaint, they would fax the information to the district offices," said Col. Dave Murphy, chief of the DNR's Law Enforcement Section. "After hours, they had a call list and would try to get hold of people.

"By the time the information would trickle down to someone who could do something about it, it was often too late. Sometimes we'd find that we had an officer 2 miles away when the incident happened, but by the time the officer got the information the incident was over and the trail was hours old."

I don't think anyone will lament its passing.

Division of Natural Resources officials announced a new reporting procedure earlier this week. It's simple and will undoubtedly be much faster.

People who suspect violations might have occurred should contact the nearest DNR regional law enforcement office. Those numbers are 304-825-6787 for the District I office in Farmington, 304-822-3551 for the District II office in Romney, 304-637-0245 for the District III office in Elkins, 304-256-6945 for the District IV office in Beckley, 304-759-0703 for the District V office in Nitro, and 304-420-4550 for the District VI office in Parkersburg.

People who wish to report emergencies, or violations actually in progress, should simply dial 911. The 911 call center operators are supposed to quickly pass the information along to conservation officers.

Comments I've seen on Internet chat rooms since the change took place range from "it's about time" to "how do I remember all those numbers" to "it took me only a few seconds to punch those numbers into my cell phone's speed dialer."

The old toll-free system was kludgy at best. The people who answered the NET-GAME "hotline" weren't state employees; they worked for an answering service.

"The way it was supposed to work was if [the answering service] got a complaint, they would fax the information to the district offices," said Col. Dave Murphy, chief of the DNR's Law Enforcement Section. "After hours, they had a call list and would try to get hold of people.

"By the time the information would trickle down to someone who could do something about it, it was often too late. Sometimes we'd find that we had an officer 2 miles away when the incident happened, but by the time the officer got the information the incident was over and the trail was hours old."

Murphy believes the recent change should cure the time lag that rendered the toll-free number nearly useless.

"Calling 911 makes sense," he explained. "Our statewide communication network is much better now. Every sergeant, lieutenant and captain is issued a cell phone. Every officer has both a high-band and an ultra-high-band radio, and can talk to any 911 center across the state."

Another benefit of the 911-based system should be its versatility.

"If you're Joe Blow Farmer and someone is shooting deer on your property in the middle of the night and a conservation officer isn't available for whatever reason, the 911 center can at least get a deputy sheriff out there to see what's going on," Murphy said.

The 911-based system will also give the cash-strapped Law Enforcement Section a substantial financial break. "Not only did we have to pay to maintain the toll-free number, we were also charged for each call the NET-GAME number received," Murphy said. "Now we won't have those costs."

Murphy credited Lt. Jerry Dunn of the agency's Farmington office for helping to spur the switch to the new system.

"Lt. Dunn said that in this day of cell phones and excellent radio communication, it simply made sense that people should call 911 for game and fish law-enforcement emergencies," Murphy said. "We just think it will better serve the public."

Reach John McCoy at 304-348-1231 or johnmc...@wvgazette.com.