Los Angeles Park Rangers Get Limited Police Powers

On Sunday, Albert Torres used a Slim Jim to unlock a car at the Griffith Park Observatory, gave a jump-start to the car of a woman in distress, helped hikers and motorists who were lost, greeted hundreds of people and admired the first signs of spring.

He also wrote a few parking citations, politely rousted four youths who claimed that they were part of an Eastside gang and asked a lot of people to pour their beers and wine coolers into the dirt.

It was a typical day for senior park ranger Torres, illustrating the changing role of the city’s force of 25 rangers. Like his colleagues in the national parks, Torres wears a Smokey the Bear uniform, drives a plain, green truck and is on the job primarily to interpret nature, protect park property and help people.

But, increasingly, as congestion and crime grow more common in the city’s 300 parks, the rangers are called upon to act like cops.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council acknowledged the change in duty with a change in status. The council voted 12 to 0 to give the rangers limited police powers, successfully concluding a four-year campaign by park advocacy groups and the Department of Recreation and Parks. Mayor Tom Bradley is expected to approve the change.

The new classification will require all rangers to receive 320 hours of peace officer training, including fire suppression, search and rescue and self-defense. They will still be prohibited from carrying firearms and will defer to police on serious crimes, said Sheldon Jensen, assistant general manager for the department, who is in charge of its rangers.

“The Police Department still is going to be the agency that takes care of crime in our parks,” Jensen said. “We don’t want park rangers to be solely law enforcement. We want them to do what most park rangers do: interpretation, taking kids on walks, helping people who have problems.”

But, in the future, instead of meekly asking drinkers to pour out their alcoholic beverages, they will be able to issue misdemeanor citations and make arrests. Most important, Jensen said, they will have the same immunity as police officers for liability related to their response to crimes.

Response to Crime

The proposal to upgrade the authority of rangers originated several years ago with a group called the Coalition to Preserve Our City Parks, which had been formed in response to increasing crime in the parks. Initially, the group sought to double the ranger force and to give rangers full police powers, including the use of firearms.

However, they encountered a rocky road. Mayor Bradley opposed the use of firearms, and the City Council rejected the expansion, said Laurie Smith a leader of the coalition.

The department then brought back the proposal minus the firearms authorization. In a 1986 report, the department listed 14 types of crime that rangers had encountered in a single month in the city’s parks. They included rape, indecent exposure, auto theft, illegal weapons and a shooting. Rangers had assisted Los Angeles police that month in making 49 arrests. The rangers who gave that assistance were not permitted to transport suspects or witnesses or to make the arrests without calling in a policeman, Jensen said.

To the surprise of its supporters, the proposal that reached the council Wednesday encountered some opposition because it did not authorize the use of guns.

Concern for Safety

“We don’t want to put them in a position where they think they have the authority and the power and then their safety and welfare are in jeopardy,” said Councilman Nate Holden, one of two councilmen from districts in South Los Angeles who asked to have the authority for guns restored.

“The uniform itself is not a deterrent,” added Councilman Robert Farrell.

However, after failing to gain support for a motion to return the proposal to committee, Holden cast his vote for it.

“I was almost in tears,” coalition leader Smith said. “We were all extraordinarily struck by the change in political climate that what had been so controversial in 1984 and 1985 had now become what everybody wants.”