ILLINOIS — The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police has announced nearly one-quarter of Illinois’ conservation officers have received layoff notices from Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration.

In a press release the FOP said 32 of the state’s more than 130 conservation officers are slated to lose their jobs at the end of the year.

Layoff notices did go out to 20 current field officers and 12 recent Conservation Police Academy graduates, but the release fails to mention those layoff notices went out in August 2015.

Since then, the 20 field staff slated for cuts have filed grievances which will go to arbitration allowing them to keep working past the December 31st deadline.

According to official IDNR documents, the State of Illinois has already spent approximately $2.6 million to date on the current Conservation Police Officer trainee class for training and salaries. The deadline to certify the 12 remaining members of this class is December 31, 2016, the same day all of them are scheduled to be laid off.

In an impact statement submitted to the Rauner administration regarding the planned layoffs warned that if the reductions go through Illinois can expect extended response time for non-emergencies, little or no coverage on state lands during the boating season, reduced response during natural disasters and for Homeland Security operations, reduced protection of natural resources, no Safety Education courses for schools and civic organizations, and more overtime costs incurred.