on2baja
Member
Good day all-
Thought I would weigh in a bit on this topic. This discussion is very near and dear to my heart, as I am very proud to have served as a NPS LE Ranger for several years.
The job is fascinating, and I am not sure there are many like it anywhere in our country. I do believe that the facts show being a Land Management LE Officer (NPS, BLM, USFS, BIA, etc) is the most dangerous LE job in the country. I wish I could find the study that I saw which spells out why that is so. I will keep looking for it. Maybe it has changed since I was in (14 years ago).
The above poster is correct in that the duties of an LE Ranger are all over the map. In most departments/agencies an officer just has one or two disciplines that they need to keep current on. A NPS LE Ranger has several. At the same time, I was (and had to be) a fully qualified Law Enforcement Officer, a Red-Carded Firefighter/Engine Operator, a Boating Safety Officer, an EMT, a Hazardous Materials Operations Officer, an airship Landing Zone Manager, Wilderness SAR trained, and Over-the-Side Rescue trained, among many others. Also, a NPS LE Ranger is expected to be up to speed on the local interpretive information concerning the unit they are working in (plants, trees, wildlife, history, etc.). Along the way, there are wide-area warrant sweeps that you participate in, surveillance operations, poaching operations, etc. It is crazy the variety of stuff you find yourself participating in.
I worked at 3 different NPS areas. One was a low-level law enforcement area, one was medium, and one was extreme. No matter how active an area you work in, though, you just never know what is going to happen. At the very active area, it was not uncommon to respond daily to traffic collisions (either on land or on the water), a couple of medical aids, vehicle and/or wildland fires, several law enforcement related calls (fights, thefts, disturbances, etc..), make numerous traffic stops resulting in either verbal warnings or citations being issued, and making arrests. Most arrests were outstanding warrant arrests, but many for DUI/BUI or other violations of the law. Finding people with weapons/drugs was common in my experience. The laws/rules/regulations that a NPS LE Ranger can enforce can be huge. In California, if you work at a Concurrent Jurisdiction NPS Unit, that means not only do you enforce the United States Code and Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, but also the CA Penal, Vehicle, Health and Welfare, Fish and Game, and Boating and Waterways codes, among others.
It was a fascinating job that I think back on with very great memories.
Thought I would weigh in a bit on this topic. This discussion is very near and dear to my heart, as I am very proud to have served as a NPS LE Ranger for several years.
The job is fascinating, and I am not sure there are many like it anywhere in our country. I do believe that the facts show being a Land Management LE Officer (NPS, BLM, USFS, BIA, etc) is the most dangerous LE job in the country. I wish I could find the study that I saw which spells out why that is so. I will keep looking for it. Maybe it has changed since I was in (14 years ago).
The above poster is correct in that the duties of an LE Ranger are all over the map. In most departments/agencies an officer just has one or two disciplines that they need to keep current on. A NPS LE Ranger has several. At the same time, I was (and had to be) a fully qualified Law Enforcement Officer, a Red-Carded Firefighter/Engine Operator, a Boating Safety Officer, an EMT, a Hazardous Materials Operations Officer, an airship Landing Zone Manager, Wilderness SAR trained, and Over-the-Side Rescue trained, among many others. Also, a NPS LE Ranger is expected to be up to speed on the local interpretive information concerning the unit they are working in (plants, trees, wildlife, history, etc.). Along the way, there are wide-area warrant sweeps that you participate in, surveillance operations, poaching operations, etc. It is crazy the variety of stuff you find yourself participating in.
I worked at 3 different NPS areas. One was a low-level law enforcement area, one was medium, and one was extreme. No matter how active an area you work in, though, you just never know what is going to happen. At the very active area, it was not uncommon to respond daily to traffic collisions (either on land or on the water), a couple of medical aids, vehicle and/or wildland fires, several law enforcement related calls (fights, thefts, disturbances, etc..), make numerous traffic stops resulting in either verbal warnings or citations being issued, and making arrests. Most arrests were outstanding warrant arrests, but many for DUI/BUI or other violations of the law. Finding people with weapons/drugs was common in my experience. The laws/rules/regulations that a NPS LE Ranger can enforce can be huge. In California, if you work at a Concurrent Jurisdiction NPS Unit, that means not only do you enforce the United States Code and Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, but also the CA Penal, Vehicle, Health and Welfare, Fish and Game, and Boating and Waterways codes, among others.
It was a fascinating job that I think back on with very great memories.
