Canal Cops : State Police Patrol From Air to Keep Aqueduct Water Moving

From the cockpit of his souped-up State Police airplane, Tom Roberts scans the California Aqueduct, snaking across the brown carpet of the Mojave Desert like a discarded blue ribbon.

The ground is perilously close--only 300 feet below his wings--but Roberts must fly that low to see what he needs to see: two motorcyclists preparing to swim in the cool, treacherous waters of the aqueduct near Hesperia. The 48-year-old pilot flips on his public address system and makes an announcement that thunders earthward.

“Gentlemen, you’re in a restricted area. Please move along.”

They do so and Roberts flies off in pursuit of other crimes and misdemeanors. It’s all in a day’s work for California’s flying aquacops.

Stationed in the Antelope Valley community of Pearblossom, Roberts is one of three members of the California State Police Air Surveillance Bureau that patrols the skies over the aqueduct, one of Southern California’s chief sources of drinking water. Roberts and his partners are like any policemen on the beat, only theirs is 401 miles long, stretching from the Sacramento Delta to Silverwood Lake in Hesperia.

It may seem strange to think of police looking for crime in a canal. But the aqueduct is not only Southern California’s water spigot, it also is a convenient place for crooks to dispose of everything from guns to bodies, safes, a telephone booth and even a stolen police car.

Encroaching urbanization in the desert surrounding the canal has brought big-city problems to the aqueduct, and they are increasing. On Roberts’ beat alone, which stretches from Gorman to Hesperia and out to Perris Lake, 18 stolen cars were dredged from the murky waters this year through July, compared to two for all of 1988.

Seven drownings were recorded by July, compared to two just three years ago.

Trespassing and vandalism are the most common problems for the aquacops. But while they write citations and make arrests when they have to, everything they do is guided by a single imperative.

“Our goal is not to cite people,” Roberts said. “Our goal is to keep the water safe and no matter what, keep the water moving. “

Stretching south through the San Joaquin Valley and over the desert to Silverwood Lake, the California Aqueduct is an engineering marvel surpassing the scale of the ancient Roman aqueducts. Ranging from 18 to 30 feet deep and up to 80 feet wide, the aqueduct in an average year transports 4.2-million acre-feet of water south. (One acre-foot provides enough water for an average Los Angeles family of five for 18 months.)

The aqueduct opened in 1971, and a year later the Department of Water Resources contracted with the State Police for security. The contract is now worth $2 million a year to the State Police, who have assigned three pilots and 15 ground officers to the task. Some ground officers are stationed at a headquarters in Fresno, but most patrol the aqueduct in cars and are in touch with the pilots.

On one typical weekend morning, Roberts had taken off from Fox Field in Lancaster to cruise his 180-mile beat.

Like any cop, Roberts has a special relationship with his vehicle; in this case a two-seat, propeller-driven aircraft that has been modified to squeeze 180 horsepower from the engine. The “old girl,” as he calls it, can take off and land on a postage stamp-sized lot. That is important because the pilots sometimes have to put down along the aqueduct to help out an officer.

Just as he respects his equipment, Roberts respects the slender blue watercourse that runs under his wings. He appreciates it as a feat of engineering; a touch of awe creeps into his voice as he describes the power of the pumping plants that keep the water moving. He also respects its potential to kill. The water looks inviting on a 110-degree summer day, but it has claimed many lives.

“The water looks cool, but there is a turbulent flow at the bottom,” he says. In fact, operators can pump water along at 25 m.p.h. “The sides of the aqueduct are covered with algae below the waterline and are as slick as glass.”

As he flies toward Hesperia, the halfway point of his patrol this day, Roberts not only watches the canal but also cranes his neck to scan the skies around him. Because his route takes him near Edwards Air Force Base, where some of America’s most sophisticated aircraft are tested, he occasionally meets up with a B-2 bomber or a Stealth fighter.

On this day, however, the skies are empty so Roberts can devote most of his attention to the ribbon of water beneath him and to spotting trespassing swimmers and fishermen. Fishing is allowed only at certain places and swimming is not permitted. One memorable trespasser was an adventurous water-skier who was towed along by a car driving along the canal’s frontage road.

“We take a very dim view of that,” Roberts said.

As Hesperia comes into view, Roberts noted that “we’re passing over stolen car alley.” Just the day before, three cars had been pulled out of the water near here. While thieves think they can hide their crimes in the water, Roberts can tell a car is in the aqueduct from tire tracks leading to the edge.

The cars must be removed to prevent water contamination, even though the water is cleansed by treatment plants to remove any contaminants before being sent to homes.

State Police also have their own diving team, which has found all sorts of odd things in the water besides stolen cars, including computers, shopping carts, a phone booth and a sheriff’s car that had been stolen in San Bernardino County.

Once when the water level was temporarily lowered, a scavenging fisherman found a cache of guns, Roberts said. “He thought it was Christmas.”

The canal is also used to hide more sinister secrets. Two weeks ago near Los Banos, State Police found a dismembered body, Roberts said. That case is under investigation.

“It’s a sickening feeling to look down and see a body,” Roberts said. “It’s happened to me twice in the past 14 months.”

Finding nothing in stolen car alley, Roberts cruises on.

The mandate to keep the water moving occasionally must be violated. Last year, authorities shut down the aqueduct for a time when a man described as strangely dressed was seen dumping a crystalline substance into the water at Littlerock.

“I thought: ‘Oh no, somebody’s dumping LSD in there,’ ” said Cmdr. Robert Cardwell, supervisor of the unit that patrols the aqueduct.

The incident occurred during the buildup to the Gulf War, and water authorities were already on alert for possible terrorists. After shutting down the aqueduct, experts analyzed water samples but found nothing.

Ground officer Sgt. Robert Schuman found the “terrorist” after tracing his license plate. The man turned out to be nothing more dangerous than an insurance salesman emptying his ice chest after a fruitless morning of fishing before work. He had been wearing a jumpsuit over his business suit.

The mystery solved, the pumps were turned back on.

Authorities remain vigilant, but they are at least partly reassured by the belief that it is very difficult to poison the water supply. “There is a lot of water in there, so whatever is put in there would be diluted unless it’s something extremely concentrated and toxic,” Schuman said.

A devil’s head painted on the aqueduct in iridescent red paint suddenly leers out of the desert, underscoring the growing problem of graffiti vandals. Vandalism, like other problems, is directly linked to the colonization of the desert. “We spend $10,000 a month correcting vandalism,” Roberts said.

One work crew is kept busy full time repairing security fences that guard the aqueduct. Trespassing motorcyclists often carry wire-cutters to enter the narrow road alongside the canal, Roberts said. Amateur gunslingers also like to take potshots at warning signs.

After reaching Silverwood Lakeat Hesperia, the pilot turns for home. The noon sun is baking the aircraft and winds are buffeting it, but he is forced to pause and circle when he sees several people climbing out of the water in the middle of the desert near Phelan.

“Oh no, they’re just kids,” he said. He radios the location to a ground unit, then turns on his public address system and orders the interlopers to leave.

Half a dozen children scatter.

“The little buggers. It may seem petty but when you see kids pulled out dead you realize how serious it is,” Roberts said.

The California Aqueduct

The California Aqueduct, one of Southern California’s chief sources of drinking water, flows south from the Sacramento Delta, reaching into Los Angeles County and on to Silverwood Lake near Hesperia in San Bernardino.