Reluctant Rangers : Encroaching Urban Problems Force Park Officers to Carry Guns

Jack Shu carries a gun but he doesn’t like it.

The 40-year-old park ranger pursued his career with visions of guiding visitors on nature hikes and instructing them on the importance of preserving wildlife.

Wearing a gun on his hip to enforce the law was not what he bargained for when he studied wildlife management and recreation at Humboldt State.

But now he accepts it as “part of the park ranger uniform,” and, given the nature of some state park visitors, it is probably for the better, he says. Naturalists such as Shu are finding that more of their time is spent on law enforcement as increasingly urbanized surroundings encroach on their rural peace.

“It was a gradual evolution into the weapons as the parks got busier,” said Shu. “The same problems that we feared in the cities seem to creep into the parks.” Shu is superintendent of the Cuyamaca Rancho park, in northern San Diego County.

Figures show that the number of crimes reported each year in all California state parks is down 5% from 1986 to 1991--but officials say that is a distorted picture. If crime seems to be down, it is because the size of the park ranger force has been reduced, with fewer rangers to find crimes and take action. Indeed, the same figures show a 7% rise in the number of felony and misdemeanor arrests made per park ranger.

Park rangers did not always carry guns. In fact, before the 1970s they didn’t carry so much as a baton.

But slowly, law enforcement tools were phased in as part of their mission. Rangers began with handcuffs, then carried guns occasionally. Finally, guns became part of the uniform.

“The public just said, ‘Hey, we want you out there fully trained and doing the job right,’ ” said Jerrold Spansail, superintendent for safety and enforcement for the southern region of the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

“People bring their problems with them to the parks,” said park ranger Ken Smith, 50. “If they have family disputes at home and they come up here to relax, they get a few drinks in them and they start whacking at each other again.”

Occasionally, felons see parks as a place to hide from the law, Smith said.

On Easter weekend, a 21-year-old man sought by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department on charges of burglarizing a house drove through a checkpoint at Cuyamaca Rancho without paying the $5 fee, Smith said.

Park rangers recognized the car as fitting the description put out by the Sheriff’s Department and they arrested the man.

“He figured it would be a good place to hide out for a while until things cooled off,” Smith said. “Had he just paid his $5 entrance fee and come in we might not have given him a second glance.”

Deer poachers pose particularly dangerous threats, Shu said. The more experienced and skilled the poacher, the more dangerous they are.

“They know how to avoid us. They feel fairly independent and they feel that they have a right to do what they are doing, and have the skill and ability to cause havoc. And their weapons are potentially more potent than ours,” Shu said.

Using a crossbow and camouflage, an illegal hunter can be as hazardous to park rangers as a sniper on a rooftop is to a police officer.

Before park rangers began wearing guns in holsters, they were required to keep them in their briefcases.

Spansail tells a story of being on patrol in Monterey when he and his partner saw a man breaking into a car.

“We ended up trying to put our guns on while driving a truck and chasing the car burglars. . . . It was a real Keystone Kops type of thing,” said Spansail, who has been a park ranger for 17 years.

The decision to arm park rangers did not come easily, said Bill Fait, superintendent of the state park system’s La Costa district, which stretches from Carlsbad to Torrey Pines.

“The department entered that era with a lot of caution,” said Fait, who has been a park ranger for 24 years.

In 1976, before park rangers in his area were armed, Fait was stationed at Hearst Castle State Park.

“We had a bombing of one of the (estate’s) buildings, and it became obvious then that we were vulnerable,” Fait said.

Park rangers also must deal with crimes that other law enforcement agencies rarely encounter, Shu said.

For example, the bracken fern, which grows wild in several inland San Diego County parks and is called kosari, is considered a delicacy by Koreans and is served as a side dish and used in soups.

The fern was being illegally harvested by Koreans who would sell it to restaurants or grocery stores, Shu said.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has trouble with poachers seeking lizards, snakes and cacti.

“Dry landscaping is getting popular, so we have people coming out here to steal cactus. It’s not a hard-core law enforcement problem, but it is an offense,” said David Van Cleve, superintendent of the 600,000-acre park.

Some rangers enjoy the law enforcement aspect of the job, but more are like Shu and are attracted to the profession mainly for its extensive contact with nature.

“I’m not particularly a person who espoused to be a police officer during my college years. In fact, I was on the other side of the fence in the anti-war protests,” said Shu.

However, in his 10 years of carrying a handgun and a badge, the law enforcement aspects of the job have grown on him.

“There’s a tendency to become part of the (law enforcement) institution or family, and you change to be a part of it. It has to do with everything from being more at home with other peace officers to viewing criminals and illegal activity in another light,” Shu said.