Park Rangers Seek Right to Bear Arms for Protection

A young San Fernando Valley gang member recently pulled a 9-millimeter handgun out of his waistband, stared at the city park ranger and asked: “Don’t you wish you had one of these, ranger?”

The answer, for Los Angeles park ranger Joe Tafoya and many of his colleagues, is a resounding yes.

Faced with increasing violence--including being shot at--the city’s park rangers are mounting an aggressive campaign to become armed. The rangers receive law enforcement training and have peace officer status but do not carry guns, leaving them helpless against armed thugs.

“We’ve had hundreds of incidents where we’ve taken guns or had guns pulled on us,” said Tafoya, who patrols mainly in the San Fernando Valley. “We’re doing the job of police officers in the city parks, but for some reason our department says we will do it unarmed.”

Arming rangers is a complicated decision for the city Department of Recreation and Parks. Guns would dramatically change the image of rangers, known more for leading nature hikes than for engaging in gunfights. Some in the department are asking whether the weapons would increase the potential for violent confrontations. Los Angeles police oppose the idea.

“I think there’s a risk factor for the rangers, for the recreation staff, for the maintenance workers, even for you and I,” said Steve Klippel, the assistant general manager of the parks department, who oversees the rangers. “But I don’t think they’re hampered at all by not having weapons.”

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Many rangers disagree, saying guns are a necessary addition to their Sam Browne belts--already equipped with batons, handcuffs and pepper spray.

“We’re not asking to become an aggressive law enforcement agency,” said Doug Kilpatrick, a Griffith Park ranger and union representative. “We’re asking for what we perceive as a safety tool. We see it no differently than a construction worker asking for a hard hat.”

Kilpatrick recently tried to apprehend a suspected drunk driver when the man struck the ranger with his car door, then dragged him several yards. Kilpatrick said he has also been shot at while on duty.

The recent altercation between Tafoya and a gang member at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area in Pacoima ended peacefully, but thanks more to luck than firepower. When the boy, who had been stopped for a routine offense, showed off the gun, Tafoya told him he was under arrest. The youth, for whatever reason, surrendered the gun.

The debate over arming Los Angeles park rangers comes as the force is being expanded from 30 to 42 sworn officers, in part to cope with a growing demand for park protection. The issue is scheduled to begin review by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee next month.

From 1991 to 1994, rangers stopped more than 500 people with weapons in the city’s 350 parks, according to the rangers union, Local 347 of the Service Employees International Union. During the same period, rangers logged nearly 2,400 drug cases and 23,000 reports of gang activity.

Of course, rangers also lead morning hikes and provide interpretive programs for children. And to some, the dual role of naturalist and cop makes sense.

“You can’t really be a naturalist . . . while your trees have graffiti all over them,” said Hector Hernandez, the city’s chief park ranger.

Rangers in nearby jurisdictions are armed--including Burbank, Glendale and the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Since getting guns, Los Angeles County park rangers are now known informally as park police rather than park rangers, said Rod Cooper, director of the county’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“I think we owe it to our park police to provide them training as certified police officers and provide them with the means necessary to protect themselves,” Cooper said. “It’s a two-sided situation. The role they play changes if they’re in a park and a little kid comes up saying they’re lost from when a gangbanger does a drive-by.”

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Russ Hauck, the park ranger supervisor in Glendale, said: “Everyone thinks . . . the minute you strap on a gun, everything changes. That’s not true at all. You don’t become John Wayne.”

Top Los Angeles Police Department officials oppose arming park rangers, following a historical policy of “one city, one police department.” Rangers now rely on LAPD officers for help when they are in danger.

“The general position of the Police Department is that we don’t want a lot of concurrent groups doing the same thing in the same area--all armed,” said LAPD Capt. Sandy Wasson, who oversees the department’s tactical planning section.

Some City Council members agree. Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said she believes the Police Department should create a special security unit to enforce the law in parks.

“My preference would be to create a way to have safety in the parks for the community and for the city employees while not creating one more armed policing entity in the city,” Chick said.

Some rangers also worry about carrying weapons. Union activists say a handful would prefer not to be armed--a decision the union would support.

But other officials, such as City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., view rangers’ duties as mostly police work. Svorinich wrote the motion seeking council approval to arm the rangers.

“I’m sure the park rangers don’t have many individuals coming up to them saying, ‘Good morning, Mr. Park Ranger, sir,’ ” Svorinich said. “The L.A. park rangers are dealing with more nefarious individuals than Yogi Bear.”

Ranger Charles Shorts, wearing his brown uniform and bulletproof vest, said he realized the importance of being armed after a confrontation with a group of trespassing youths who were carrying weapons.

“It was a scary situation,” said Shorts, a Griffith Park ranger for eight years. “What we’re dealing with is different from what it used to be--more loiterers, drinkers and gangs.”

Sprinkled in the rangers’ daily logs are reports of confiscated weapons and confrontations with drunk or hostile youths. For instance, a ranger chasing a motorist in Griffith Park was able to pull the man over--and found a loaded handgun in the front seat.

In another case, two rangers were called to Costello Park to break up a dispute between rival gangs. Then gang members began shooting at each other from opposite sides of the park using semiautomatic handguns.

The dangers facing unarmed rangers also frighten their families.

“This is a job my husband has wanted to do since he was a little boy,” said Linda Tafoya, Joe’s wife, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child. “But parks have changed. It’s the 1990s, and they’re asking these guys to go out and protect the city and they’re not protected themselves.”

Added Rosie Hernandez, whose husband, Paul, has been a ranger for 10 years: “I’m afraid I’ll get a knock at the door one night. . . . It scares me.”