SIMI VALLEY/OAK PARK : Park Rangers to Start Carrying Firearms

A new firearms policy that will arm rangers patrolling 40 parks in Simi Valley and Oak Park was approved Thursday night by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

Chairman James Meredith cast the sole dissenting vote. Meredith, who also voted against a similar measure last fall, has said, “I always felt that if you have a weapon, someone is going to challenge you to use it.”

The new policy, effective in mid-November, requires rangers on patrol to carry firearms and to wear protective vests.

The rangers, who must purchase and maintain their own weapons at a cost of about $700 apiece, will choose their weapons from among a list of several semiautomatic guns and revolvers.

The district’s three full-time rangers, all retired police officers each with more than 20 years experience--together with a fourth ranger to be hired later this year--must pass a test demonstrating their proficiency with the weapons.

The Rancho Simi district, which encompasses 2,400 acres of parkland and undeveloped open space, is the first of the three recreation districts in the county to arm its rangers. Neither the Conejo nor Pleasant Valley recreation and park districts, which cover Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, respectively, allows rangers to carry weapons.

Parks in the remaining cities and county areas are patrolled by armed city or county police officers or sheriff’s deputies.

In 1994, the most serious crimes committed in the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District included 20 weapons violations, 104 gang interventions, 84 narcotics arrests, nine arson fires, six prostitution arrests and six other felony arrests.