Rangers Say Guns Make Job Easier

Driving over sidewalks and grass through the Rancho Simi Community Park, Senior Park Ranger Jerry DeRosa spots a violation of park rules: a couple allowing their dog to take a dip in the man-made lake.

DeRosa and partner Rodger Dunn climb out of the white Chevy Blazer and approach the threesome.

“The dog has to be on a leash at all times,” DeRosa says. “The citation for dogs off leashes can be expensive.” The couple escapes with just a warning.

And so it goes. DeRosa and Dunn are peace officers--retired from the Los Angeles Police Department--with the power to make arrests and carry guns. Even so, a typical night of patrol includes as many unleashed pooches as human scofflaws. On a busy night, they might write five citations.

Still, as dusk turns pitch, some of the remote parks and trails can seem a little scary. A waning moon can throw the scarcest of shadows, requiring DeRosa and Dunn to use their searchlights on brush, hills and trees. Finding teenagers partying with alcohol and drugs isn’t unheard of.

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In times like those, the two are glad they’re armed. “There’s always that potential for violence,” Dunn said.

So far, that potential has been just that. More than a year has passed since the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District armed its rangers. And not once have they had occasion to take them out of their holsters, save for target practice and cleaning.

The park board gave the rangers the go-ahead to carry guns in September 1995. By mid-November, they were packing 9-millimeter Berettas or Smith and Wesson .45-caliber semiautomatic weapons.

So far, the reaction from park patrons has been positive, DeRosa said. “We get, ‘By gosh, it’s about time you got armed,’ or, ‘I’m glad you have something to protect yourself.’ ”

The four rangers who patrol 40 parks in Simi Valley and Oak Park must purchase and maintain their own weapons at a cost of about $700 apiece.

Officials at Conejo Recreation and Park District, the only other district in Ventura County that uses park rangers, have no plans to arm their employees, said Tom Sorensen, administrator of parks and planning.

The Conejo rangers, unlike their Simi counterparts, spend more time as naturalists, maintaining the open space and trails, and less time enforcing the law, Sorensen said. “Enforcement is a minor part of their job, from a percentage standpoint.”

Thousand Oaks, like the rest of Ventura County, relies on sheriff’s deputies or police officers for law enforcement services in the parks. Many national forest rangers also bear arms.

The Simi park district’s decision to provide guns did not come in response to a crime wave, park officials said at the time. But the proximity to Los Angeles and its urban influences concerned the district’s board. And the local parks weren’t incident free.

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In 1994, the year before the guns were allowed, there were 20 weapons violations, 104 gang interventions, 84 narcotics arrests, nine arson fires, six prostitution arrests and six other felony arrests. DeRosa said no new statistics have been tabulated for 1995 or 1996.

“Thank God it’s gone very well,” said Jim Meredith, the only park board member to vote against arming the rangers. Before the vote, he worried the guns would prompt a challenge to use them.

“If it were to come up for a vote today, I would vote against it again,” he said.

The rangers are glad Meredith’s is a minority viewpoint.

“You come out here at 10, 11 o’clock at night, you never know what you’re going to run across. You need to have something to protect yourself,” DeRosa said.

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Prior to arming themselves, DeRosa said he and the other men felt a little vulnerable in situations when they needed to call in backup from the Simi Valley Police Department.

Suspects would say: ‘You’re just a park ranger. You don’t mean anything,’ DeRosa recalled. “Now they say, ‘Hey, Maybe we better listen to the guy.’

“There is a big psychological advantage, approaching someone without a weapon versus approaching someone with a weapon. The mere fact there’s a side arm does make a difference.”