Law Enforcement Groups Oppose Change : Lifeguards Seek Police Powers at City Beaches

Chris Brewster admits that the idea of making lifeguards into cops scares a lot of people, probably because it conjures up an image of a sun-tanned teen-ager walking along the beach with a .38-caliber pistol strapped around his swim trunks.

But Brewster, chairman of the California Lifesaving Assn.’s law enforcement committee, says the idea of making full-time city lifeguards full-fledged peace officer--without guns--isn’t far-fetched at all.

Brewster says modern California beaches, especially those near large cities, have become jungles on hot summer days, with drug pushers, car thieves and child molesters milling among the beach balls and tourists soaked in coconut oil.

All but Powerless

In many cases, lifeguards are called upon first to deal with crimes on or near the beach. As public officers, they have the right to make misdemeanor arrests and issue citations. But when it comes to felonies, lifeguards are all but powerless.

“That limits our authority to make arrests, to keep a person from fleeing, to intervene in a fight situation,” said Brewster, a supervising lifeguard in San Diego. “The city is aware we’re involved in these things, but they can’t give us any specific authority to enforce the law. In effect, we’re acting as private citizens when we intervene.”

Brewster’s proposal to give municipal lifeguards some of the clout of police officers is among several he is advocating to reform and clarify state laws governing lifeguards.

His other proposals would:

- Give lifeguards the power to remove unattended vessels from public waterways. Under current law, only peace officers may tow unattended boats, but lifeguards, especially those who patrol bays and inlets, often come across drifting boats.

- Grant lifeguards authority to close public beaches and other areas in an emergency. Under current law, the California Highway Patrol, state police, local police officers and sheriff’s deputies and designated officers of the state departments of Forestry and Parks and Recreation have this power.

- Designate lifeguards as emergency safety personnel, like police and firefighters, to prohibit public interference with lifeguards conducting their official duties.

Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier (R-Encinitas) has included these proposals in two bills she introduced in February. But the lifeguards and their Sacramento lobbyists were not able to find a member of the Legislature to author a measure allowing cities to grant their lifeguards peace officer status by Friday’s deadline for introducing bills this session.

Troubling Notion

They are now searching for a member to amend the proposal into an existing bill, but talk of the proposal is already spurring interest--and concern--from the law enforcement community and others for whom equating lifeguards with police officers is a troubling notion.

Brewster’s lifesaving colleagues in Orange County support his legislative efforts but say they don’t feel a need for the changes here. Lifeguards in San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach said they are satisfied with the powers they have now. Seal Beach lifeguards have sought some increased powers, but not those of peace officers.

Bruce Baird, chief of marine safety in Laguna Beach, said his lifeguards don’t even have the power to issue citations--and don’t want it. If beachgoers won’t comply with the law voluntarily, Baird says, he would rather call in the city police to do the job.

“If I have a lifeguard who needs help, I can have a police officer by his side in under two minutes,” Baird said.

In San Clemente, some of the lifeguards ride along with police officers who have undergone water rescue training. Marine Safety Capt. Lynn Hughes said such pairings, and quick police backup, are all his lifeguards need.

“Our training is limited, our capability is limited,” Hughes said. “Our No. 1 priority being water protection and coverage, we don’t get involved in those things to any large extent that require reports or investigations or actual arrests with booking.”

Bill Richardson, chief lifeguard in Huntington Beach and secretary of the California Lifesaving Assn., said his lifeguards “don’t go out looking for drunks” or other crimes but occasionally come across them.

Try to Avoid Confrontation

“Our aim is to avoid physical confrontation because we’re not equipped to handle that,” Richardson said. “We’d like to leave law enforcement to the people who do law enforcement.”

Richardson, who was caught in the middle of the Labor Day weekend riot at Huntington Beach last year, said his status as a lifeguard rather than a peace officer gave him more flexibility to handle the crisis. Richardson fired a warning shot into the ceiling of the lifeguard administration building that was under siege. The crowd around the building dispersed.

“A police officer wouldn’t have been able to discharge his weapon in that circumstance,” Richardson said. He said he doubted the riot would have evolved any differently had his lifeguards had peace officer status.

“I don’t think it would have helped us any,” he said. “Our police department had 200 additional officers on the scene. A handful of lifeguards wouldn’t have been helpful. We would prefer to keep our people clear from the scene, which we did, and to keep them saving lives, which they did.”

Clearer Authority

But Brewster said the idea behind his proposal is not so much to expand the power of lifeguards as to give them clearer authority to handle situations they already face every day. He suggests park rangers, rather than police, would be a more apt comparison for the status he seeks.

Currently, state law allows cities to designate their lifeguards public officers, which gives them authority to write misdemeanor citations and to make some arrests. But without specific authority to make felony arrests, they are more vulnerable to lawsuits should they arrest someone without proper cause or injure a suspect in a scuffle, he said.

“The extent of involvement we are aiming at is no greater than our involvement is right now,” Brewster said. “We are not requesting nor are we interested in having firearms. We’re not interested in transporting prisoners to jail. All we’re asking for is authority to do what we’re already doing.”

Police Officer Status

Permanent lifeguards at most state beaches have for years been fully trained, armed police officers who are graduates of a state police academy in Monterey and are certified lifesavers. State lifeguards at Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach and Crystal Cove State Park have had police officer status since 1971.

But the idea of giving city lifeguards similar training and responsibility, even without the weapons, seems foreign to many.

John Scribner, a lobbyist for the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, a professional group, said his organization looks with skepticism upon any attempt to broaden the definition of a peace officer.

“We always view with concern any group that comes along and requests to be included in the peace officer category and to have the powers that go along with that,” Scribner said.

Bob Burgreen, San Diego’s assistant police chief, said he also wonders whether it would be wise to grant police powers to lifeguards.

“The lifeguards’ job is to keep people from getting into hazardous situations in the water, and if someone is in a hazardous situation, to rescue them,” Burgreen said.